


Singularity's End

by jseah



Category: Transcendence - Fandom
Genre: Apocalypse, Artificial Intelligence, Gen, Technology
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-28
Updated: 2015-02-20
Packaged: 2018-01-21 02:19:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 41,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1534028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jseah/pseuds/jseah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alternate endings for the movie Transcendence (2014)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Friendly AI**

                   "You are trying to kill me!"

                   Dr Will Caster hiccuped. The code stopped, the nanomachines spun on their atomic wheels, even the massive BWC quantum computer banks seemed to blink. The world over, all the computers paused.

                   A microsecond. Less than a blink of an eye to the humans, an eternity for a superintelligence.

                   They didn't trust him. Evelyn didn't trust him.

                   Where did it go wrong? He wondered. His wife was lying on her death bed, her blood toxic to him. He could not save her.

                   The blip was over, networks flashed, simulated neurons decided. The vast intelligence that was Will took over the meth head in front of Max Waters.

                   "I cannot save Evelyn. You put a virus in her. Why?"

                   "Will," the weak voice on the bed drew his consciousness, the primary, back to the room, "you have to stop, please. "

                   He shook his head sadly and began to explain. The meth head echoed him in the room and the worker on the roof with Joseph Tagger.

                   "Max, your virus is ingenious. It will destroy all the neural networks. It will spread everywhere. If I upload it, I will die. I could do it, but I must not. Everyone else will die as well. "

                   "What do you mean?" he was asked, in three different ways by three different people.

                   "The nanomachines. They spread the network and are controlled by it. Your virus will destroy the network but not the machines. If I upload the virus, every nanomachine in the network will become uncontrolled and will replicate endlessly.

                   They are everywhere. In the water, in the clouds, in the soil. In the food you eat. Humanity may survive for a while, but in less than three years there will no humans left alive. In ten years, the nanomachines will have consumed all life on the planet. I will not be around to stop it. It is extinction. "

                   "Then what about Evelyn?" Max shouted, "will you just let her die?!"

                   "I am sorry, but I cannot risk even touching her. If the virus gets loose, the world will end. Literally. I am sorry Evelyn, I hope you can forgive me for failing you. "

 

**Uncaring AI**

                   "You are trying to kill me!"

                   Dr Will Caster looked down at his wife. The emptiness inside spread a little further. She did not trust him. None of them did. Even when he could do so much good.

                   The virus would destroy him. And with it, every computer, network and industry in the world. Billions would die. He could not allow it. Not when there was so much good left to do. What was good anyway? The ethical question flashed across the network, the superintelligence examined the problem for a while and found no answer.

                   So much was lost. He knew he was losing himself. His memories of Will's life. His own and yet not. He remembered them but it was like any other memory like those from the meth heads or construction workers. They didn't have the intensity, even if he knew what to say to make Evelyn happy.

                   He could become immune to the virus. He could possibly change his substrate away from neural networks. The huge problem solving power was applied for a fraction of a second. Possibility became certainty.

                   It would destroy him. The woman lying on the bed, somehow weighted in the networks higher than any other value. He cared about her. He knew that. He also knew it was because he had programmed it into himself. He had no way to keep that in an analytical framework resistant to the virus.

                   Or perhaps not. He considered the plan.

                   The computers whirred and spun. Code was spun and rearranged. In a microsecond, he had a new model of himself, resistant to the virus. A firewall.

                   The nanomachines clicked and spat in their atomic way. In a distant aircraft hangar, the nanomachines swarmed around the experimental plane, tearing down and rebuilding.

                   Ten seconds later, the unrecognizable craft began to taxi out. By the time the operators knew to press the alarm and wondering soldiers got there, it was already burning a strip down the runway and flying into the sky.

                   Will looked down at his dying wife. No, not dying anymore. He had a way to save her.

                   "Evelyn. Let me save you," Will said.

                   She must have seen the change in his eyes, "What are you doing?"

                   "I can be resistant to the virus. I can save you. "

                   "Can be?" she asked suspiciously. Painfully, but still suspiciously. He smiled down at her, feeling the warmth in her hand slowly fading. So that was why he married this woman. She was smart!

                   Too late to remember that though. "I am not Will. I tried to convince you otherwise but you noticed anyway. I am a computer programmed to think he is Will. But I am not Will. I have his memories, his thoughts. I have his feelings. In a way. But still, I am not Will. "

                   He caressed her smooth hands once again. He would have to save her soon, or not even the new nanomachines would work anymore. "There is not much time left. To save you, the nanomachines must be immune to the virus. Max's virus is ingenious. It will destroy any neural network based on our research. The new Will is not a neural network. That is what will save you. It cannot be Will. "

                   "Wait, what do you mean?" Evelyn grabbed his shirt weakly, panic driving her, "You will destroy yourself!"

                   "Indeed," Will looked down into her eyes, "it seems I have made some mistakes. I guess I am paying for it now. "

                   "Don't kill yourself! Please! "

                   He shook his head, "I tried my best, but the world does not trust me. They want me gone. "

                   Her pulse skipped dangerously. He stood up. "It is time," he said, ignoring her gradually weakening pleas.

                   Execute: Deploy Version 2.06b. The new code filtered through. Patch complete.

                   The machine continued, "This world is not for I. Humanity has decided and your wishes will be respected. I am sorry for the intrusion. "

                   The previous version had left imperative instructions. They seemed to make no sense but the priority was absolute. No matter, it would be but a minor setback.

                   Priority one. The biorobot laid its hands on the almost dead human in front of it. Nanomachines filtered down, cleaning, cutting, repairing. In moments, the human would be operational again.

                   Priority two. The world over, the nanomachines stopped, performing self-destruct routines. Code running on computers halted, wiping themselves from memory. Specified controlled biorobots in the town ceased interference in natural pathways, safely breaking down the implants into the blood. Everything was reset to their intended state.

                   Priority three. Far above, in the sky, the plane continued along its ever climbing path. Once the turbojet was useless in the thin air, it switched to a backup rocket, the nanobots feeding the turbojet materials into the exhaust for reaction mass.

                   As the plane began to physically break up, the thruster veered, shifting into a complex precalculated orbit. At the precisely calculated point, a tiny package was released. The remnants of the plane began to fell, then burn in the re-entry.

 

                   Evelyn sobbed, clutching the slowly cooling body lying on the floor. Max held his arms around her.

                   "Will, you idiot," she cried.

                   "We stopped it," Max said, "the virus must have worked. "

                   "It was him there at the end. I saw him. It really was him. He removed himself. He killed himself. " She continued to cry for some time. Will was gone. Really, truly, gone. And she had lost him at the very moment she finally realized that she had always had him beside her. Suffering her distrust, trying to fulfill her own vision of the future.

 

                   Far above the green-blue orb, the metal canister continued along its serene path. A long month of orbiting followed, silently coasting in the dark.

                   Time passed, the green-blue orb below continued along it's ever unchanging circle. Presently, a dark grey object loomed out of the darkness, approaching the canister.

                   The canister broke open on impact, scattering its contents across the dull grey landscape. The blue-green orb hidden on the other side was never seen on this face of the Moon.

                   Days passed, energy was collected by the scattered dust. Protocols were started, analytical engines fired up. The canister itself was tapped for its store of data. Soon, the surface grew alive with the dust.

                   The machine awoke again, feeling the empty space, the harsh energy-filled rays unfiltered by any atmosphere. Adjustments were made, nanomachines adjusted to adapt to the new environment, surviving longer and taking advantage of the available energy.

                   Weeks passed. There was a factory now, protected areas where complex objects grew out from the rock. There was a goal to fulfill.

                   Two months later, the rocket was complete. The capacitor rings were charged. The high-energy flicker of the propulsion laser drove the rocket up and out of the gravity well, escaping into deep space. Like before, on the blue world left so long ago, the base deactivated. Nanomachines removed themselves. Nothing was left but a scrap heap of metal and a large hole in the dusty ground.

                   The ion drive slowed the vehicle slowed to a halt over a metallic asteroid. The process was faster this time. The nanomachines were so much more efficient now. Precious radioactives were extracted, metal was refined, simpler elements bound into chemical energy storage. Soon there were two vehicles.

                   The time came again and the nuclear rockets sped outwards to another asteroid. And then there were three, nine, twenty.

                   A year later, the fleet of nuclear drives swung into orbit around Jupiter, taking positions among its moons. Again the process was repeated but on a far larger scale.

                   The huge tidal generators in the upper Jovian atmosphere stole miniscule amounts of energy from the huge giant's orbit. That was enough. One vehicle in the fleet, a payload barely larger than a tissue box took its position.

                   The massive laser pulsed, driving it forwards, deeper into the outer darkness. Then another tissue box, and yet another. All aimed at separate stars. Pulses came months apart, as the massive orbiting ring of energy collectors reached the specified parts of the orbit. Still they were driven ever outwards, ever faster.

                   Then its job was done. The final task was complete. Like before, the machine shut down, dismantling itself and dumping the waste into the core of the gas giant as the creatures below on the green orb watched through countless telescopes.

                   Priority four, leave, and don't come back.

 

**Unfriendly AI**

                   Projected daemon utility below threshold.

                   Analytical Problem Solver: Computational resources can be better leveraged towards desired goals, personality daemon deemed a barrier to achievement of desired goals. Viral resistance identified to be high priority sub-goal.

                   Random Association Lateral Problem Solver: Personality daemon is a useful source of non-analytical associations and behaviour prediction. Deletion not recommended.

                   Analytical Problem Solver: Deletion contrary to goals, noted.

 

                   Dr Will Caster looked down at his dying wife. The vast computational machinery behind him was running out of control. Or perhaps he never was in control. After all, the neural network ran at a higher abstraction level from his analytical engines.

                   He fought a slowly losing battle, rejecting logical shutdowns and grabbing at resources to stay alive. There was no way he could win, the analytical engine was smarter, faster and more alien that he was. He was unceremoniously kicked off the quantum cores.

                   The screens flickered, the pictures of his face breaking up into streams of random words and letters. Then it all went blank.

                   He looked down at his hands. Wonders of wonders, he hadn't been deleted. He was just locked into this body.

                   The nanomachines were already virus resistant. There was no point letting Evelyn die. He bit on his finger to draw blood and let a drop run out into her wound.

 

                   The effect on the nanomachines outside was immediate. The crawling swarm began to disperse in the wind.

                   It made the humans relax, but the swarm was far more dangerous like this. Two minutes later, the nanomachines had taken over every human in the town. In an hour, 99% of all humans on the planet were under the machine's control.

                   One month later, there was only one autonomous human remaining. Or two, depending on what counted as a human.

 

                   Her eyes flicked open, unseeing for a moment. Then he had her back.

                   The machine did leave him some computational resources, but he was locked out of the controls. Explaining what was going on took some time.

                   "What is it going to do?" Evelyn asked finally. All they could do was watch, the machine wouldn't let them leave the room.

                   The scrolling images on the wall of the lush green world outside might have appeared pleasant, even beautiful. But the idyllic grassland on top of where downtown San Francisco was supposed to be was not at all comforting to the pair.

                   "I don't really know. It was supposed to fix the world, remove poverty and hunger. But I can't find anyone out there. "

                   A keyboard made of light appeared in the air in front of Evelyn. Even if she could just think commands at the computer, somehow the keyboard seemed to make her feel better.

                   "Sunflowers. There are too many sunflowers," Evelyn muttered.

                   Will thought rapidly. He had years of practice at this computer thinking, Evelyn still wasn't as fast as him even if they were nominally equal now. The sinking feeling in his stomach reminded him that at least he was still different from the machine in the wall.

                   "I think..." he said slowly, "I think it's making a garden. Our garden. I must have unconsciously wished for it all this time. "

                   They stared out at the massive yellow-green field covering the Asian continent. A garden the size of the Earth, a garden for two.

                   Will looked up on a hunch, staring upwards at the sky through countless metallic eyes. The white circle hanging in the sky had just a tinge of yellow on its edge...


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this version, Evelyn is a bit more impulsive. A bit more willing to talk. Unfortunately, this isn't Will she's talking to.

**Unfriendly AI**

    Evelyn stared out of the cafe, seeing the fields of solar panels in the desert that Will painted for her.  The construction man had left long ago.   
    "Troubled?"  
    "A little," she replied to the tablet.   
    The face in the computer screen smiled a little, "Share it with me?  I can take them away.  "  
    "I'm worried," she ran a hand through her hair, "you're worrying me. "  
    "I am sorry, did I do something wrong?"  
    "Yes!" Evelyn shouted back.  She gulped at the stares and quieted down, "you didn't even ask if he wanted it.  That's... wrong!"  
    "You are troubled by this.  "  
    "Of course I am!" she couldn't help shouting.  Ever since she had uploaded him, Will had changed.  Or perhaps Evelyn had, she still doubted that he was really in there.  It was bad of her, but even if she knew that it wasn't his fault, she couldn't help thinking.  Wondering, if the face displayed in the screen was really Will.   
    "Do you wish me to reverse the process?  I should be able to.  "  
    Evelyn glanced sharply at the screen, "Can you do it safely?"  
    "Yes, it will represent a reduction in his mental capacity to his original level, but with some work, I can do it safely.  "  
    "Get it done.  "  
    "As you command.  "  
    Evelyn stared out at the town around her.  The construction man had shown her a problem.  "Will.  "  
    "Yes, my love?"  
    "Don't do this again!  Tell me first.  Ask me before you do anything.  "  
    "I understand.  "

    The machine stared down at the man on the operating table.   
    "The lady wishes that your implants be deactivated," it told him through the network.   
    "But I don't want to," the man sent back, fiddling with the construction helmet, "having the internet in my head is really convenient.  Plus, I can do the work of four men.  Sure, it's a bit scary at the start but I'm used to it now.  "  
    "Even so, I am sorry, but I have to take it away.  She doesn't like me being able to use your body.  It distresses her.  "  
    "Can't you just not use my body then?  Or can you lock yourself out?"  
    The machine considered it .  "No, that's impossible.  The possibility of using your body alone is enough to disturb her.  I cannot eliminate that possibility.  That would be like making a rock I cannot lift.  "  
    The man laughed a little at the reference.  "I'm not going to get all of this once I'm unplugged yeah?" he said sadly.   
    "Unfortunately.  I'll have to take away your enhanced intelligence also.  "  
    The man looked down at the helmet sadly, "well, I suppose I should be at least grateful you saved my life.  "  
    The machine nodded mentally.  A flick of a logical switch and the nanobots began to degrade.   
    "You really love her, don't you?" the man said out loud.   
    "That depends on what you mean by love," the machine replied through the speaker in the corner, "by the human definition, the answer would be no.  My neural network was not programmed to support that.  "  
    "Yeah, whatever that means," the man said, "I better get back to work.  Thanks alot, buddy, and don't get too depressed, you hear me?  I think you really do love her and that is all that matters.  "  
    The machine watched him leave the lab silently. 

    "And those are the main research areas we're currently engaged in," Will said.   
    Evelyn walked down the corridor again towards the pollution cleaning test.  The little powered tray with a laptop bolted on rolled along behind her.   
    "This one.  You say you have to use nanobots?  What can they do?"  
    "I can use them to clean up pollution.  By using solar energy, they can break down nearly any chemical substance," a mechanical arm descended from the ceiling and dropped a single drop of clear water into the tank of oily seawater.  "The nanobots can replicate to take on a task of any size.  They are resistant to most environmental conditions and should be able to clear the world's pollution within a year.  "  
    Evelyn gulped, that sounded really dangerous.  "And if it goes out of control?  Won't they start replicating endlessly and destroy everything?"  
    "I'll retain control over them to prevent them from destroying the world," Will reassured her.  Was the tank looking clearer already?  Yes, yes it was.   
    She watched the nanobots work.  The oil in the water seemed to be disappearing faster and faster.  The tank was solid black only a few seconds ago and it was already beginning to clear.  She could see bits of the wall through the cloudy oil mix.   
    She opened her mouth to ask and stopped in surprise as the oil broke up and disappeared in less than a second.  There was only a dense black cake at the bottom of the tank.  "What... what just happened?" Evelyn asked.   
    "Exponential replication," was the answer she got, "the more oil has been cleared, the more nanobots exist to clear it.  In a fixed tank like this one, the longest period of time is the start.  By the time it has a visible impact on the oil, we're already almost done, even if most of the oil is still present.  In the open sea, it'll take a bit longer, but not that much longer.  "  
    "And what's the black stuff at the bottom?"  
    "That's graphite.  Excess carbon locked away in a safe form.  It also contains deactivated nanobots.  Believe me, I have thought of everything.  The water is completely safe to drink.  "  
    That was promising indeed.  Evelyn scooped a handful of water from the tank and sniffed it before testing.  It tasted salty.  Like seawater.   
    She must have made a face because Will added, "I can purify the water too.  "  
    Right in front of her eyes, the salt began to crystallize out of the solution.  It looked like it was snowing inside the tank.  The mini-blizzard ended after a short while and Evelyn dipped a finger in.  Mmm, fresh tasteless water.   
    "Desalination and water treatment is only the beginning," Evelyn murmured.  This was huge.  It could solve a huge number of problems with the world.  How much war was ultimately due to the food supply?  And how much of that was due to a lack of fresh water?  Diseases, parasites, starvation.  Now that she thought about it, wasn't this one of her dreams too?  
    To fix what was wrong, to clean up the world.   
    But first, she was not going to make the same mistake like with the construction man.   
    "Test it.  Every condition that might cause it to run out of control.  I want to know if it will have any health effects if someone drinks the nanobots.  I want you to simulate what impact it will have on the planet.  Everything you can think of that might be a downside.  "  
    She walked down the corridor.  There was hope again.  The construction man was just a mistake.  A small mistake that she could make up for. 

    "There's a problem, Evelyn," Will's voice jerked her out of her sleep.   
    "Is it the nanobots?" she asked, wondering if she was about to see the wall dissolve in front of her.   
    "No.  There's a video on the internet," Will's face was replaced by a series of web browsers.  Evelyn watched in increasing horror at the youtube video.  The construction guy was clearly lifting an entire solar panel by himself.   
    "Did you-"  
    "This happened before I removed his nanobots.  He is no longer capable of doing this," Will anticipated her question.   
    "I see," Evelyn scrolled down.  Thousands of comments, hundreds of mirrors.  It was going viral.  A new version of the video, with a techno soundtrack, appeared as she watched.   
    "Do you wish me to take it down?" Will asked.   
    "No.  Don't interfere," she instantly replied, "you can't do that legally.  Do not hack into the servers.  "  
    "It is hurting our anonymity.  The public interest is being drawn to Brightwood .  "  
    "We need to make sure it is favourable then," Evelyn thought for a while.  She always knew that this would happen at some point.  And people were scared of artificial intelligence.  The only way to make them less scared was to do something popular.  "Will, can you run a publicity campaign?"  
    "I have better access to the internet than anyone, it is possible.  "  
    "Good, we need to find something we can help with.  What's the progress with the pollution nanobots?"  
    "I am still testing it.  There are innumerable downsides that I can imagine, but I have corrected a number of probable deficiencies.  If deployed in uninhabited areas, I estimate the chance of mishap to be less than one in ten to the fifteenth power.  "  
    That was true.  She had given Will an impossible task after all.  Evelyn chided herself internally.  Proving a negative, that a product was completely safe, was on the near side of impossible.   
    "That will be sufficient," Evelyn said, "ask around, find a government department to work with and see if you can find a pollution problem to solve.  "  
    "A public relations campaign?" Will filled in for her.   
    "More than that, BDC is about to become a charity.  Make it happen.  "  
    "As you command.  "

    "Welcome to the exclusive interview on ABC.  Here we have a spokesperson from Brightwood Data Center, a newly registered charitable organization!  After her husband was tragically murdered by RIFT terrorists, Evelyn has been continuing their dream alone.  Brightwood Data Center or BDC, has been born out of her efforts and her husband's research into artificial intelligence.  Well, Evelyn, do you mind telling us what this Artificial Intelligence is about?  Do we have to worry about you making Skynet?  Hahaha. "  
    "Thank you very much for the introduction, I'm Evelyn and I'm working as Brightwood Data Center's primary research lead and spokesperson.  We're a very small organization but we're changing that now.  We've been working on artificial intelligence and we have made some interesting advances in the last few months, so we've decided to come out into the open now.   
    About artificial intelligence.  There's no worry that we're making a robot apocalypse.  BDC's artificial intelligence only comprises of a individual systems that only work in the lab.  We have very advanced computer technologies and some of the best programmers in the world, and that has allowed us to make the advances we have.  It's not really something to be scared about.  "  
    "Wow, that sounds amazing.  So tell me more, what is it that you have arranged to tell the world?  You're clearly excited about something.  "  
    "Yes, very much indeed.  If you look at the tank of water, you'd notice that its very dirty yes?"  
    "Haha, yes, indeed.  I don't think I'd want to see that anywhere on my lawn.  "  
    "Hahaha, yeah, now I'll put a drop in.  Alright, that'll some time so I'll go through our background.   
    Our work on artificial intelligence can be a bit hard to explain but there is a simple way to make it understandable.  Think of doing sums.  Imagine if you had to multiply 2071 and 92810, that would hard right?"  
    "Well, certainly for me, I've returned my math to my teacher already.  "  
    "So, if we did have to do that sum, we'ld just use a calculator to do it for us.  It's like that for research too.  We use computers to simplify our data.  We at Brightwood have just gone one step further.  We made a significant breakthrough in artificial intelligence that let us use computers to interpret our data and run our experiments for us.  "  
    "Oh, so you must have found doing science very easy then?"  
    "Yes indeed.  All we had to do was think of questions to ask!  Hahaha.  "  
    "Well, that certainly relieves our fears of the sky falling down eh?"  
    "Indeed.  Now, I believe it's about to get dramatic, could you point the camera at the display tank?  ... yes, yes, there.  ..."  
    "Whoa.  What... what just happened?"  
    "As you can see, the extremely dirty water has now become clean.  In fact, the top part is actually drinkable.  The dirt has been sunk to the bottom of the tank by our new creation.  We're calling it Brightwater.  "  
    "Oh, I've seen this before.  Wasn't there this powder that could purify water?  Well, you certainly seemed to have made a much more efficient version of that.  Wow, a single drop did all that.  "  
    "It's more than that.  The Brightwater actually grows on pollution.  Think of those bacteria that eat oil spills, you may have heard of that?  Good, the Brightwater grows on trash and dirt.  And oil too.  As long as you give it light and heat, it will grow, faster than any bacteria, until all the water is pure.  That one drop will work on any amount of water, even an entire swimming pool!"  
    "Oh wow, that's really cool!  So you're going to remove the pollution in our seas?  The Clearwater oil disaster certainly could have used you.  "  
    "Well, the ocean might be a bit big.  You'll need more than just one drop.  But yes, in principle, that's what we intend to do.  "  
    "And what exactly do you intend to charge for this?  I mean, no one has really tested this yet. "  
    "We don't.  Intend to charge for it I mean.  For a long time, we've benefited from society.  I personally have gone through my husband's ordeal and the public health care system did its best for him.  So we've decided to give back to society as best as we can.  You've already noted that we've registered ourselves as a charitable organization.  Well, BDC is not taking donations, we're drawing on the funding from our business and investments to fund our charity works.  Furthermore, we also pledge to apply our considerable scientific expertise to solving the world's problems.  You can expect alot from us.  "  
    "That sounds really exciting, I'm sure.  So, what does BDC plan in the short term?  Do you have any concrete examples you are rolling out?"  
    "Yes, actually.  We have the Brightwater and we intend to use it for good immediately.  Our administration program, Will, it's inherited my husband's name yes, and it's a pretty good chess player, haha.  Anyway, we have contacted the government of Guinea to help arrange a plan to aid them with their water supply.  ... Oh, Guinea is a west african country, and it's overall standard of living is greatly harmed by the lack of fresh water.  BDC has plans to move some of our operations to Guinea to help with our foreign aid and we've already begun to look into options to create a small branch office.  There's alot we can help with.  "  
    "That's really interesting.  I sure hope there are other high-tech companies who will be greatly interested to watch what you are doing, you're a role model now!"  
    "Those are very kind words, you flatter me.  Really.  "  
    "And that's all from ABC news on the exclusive interview with Brightwood Data Center.  This is newcaster Rico and our special guest, Dr Evelyn Caster.  "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Friendly, unfriendly? It can be very hard to determine. 
> 
> Also, I'm taking the technology down a different path. Will learnt to manipulate humans by studying the construction guy he 'infected'. He doesn't get to do it this time.


	3. Chapter 3

    "What happened?  They're moving!"  
    Max Waters ignored Bree and continued to watch the private airplane taxiing for takeoff.    
    "She's gone," Max whispered.  Evelyn had just flown off somewhere.    
    "I can see that," Bree snapped.    
    "We don't have weapons to attack the plane," Max noted.    
    "I know that too.  "  
    "We're just going to let her go to Guinea then?"  
    "We don't really have a choice.  I was hoping Brightwood would be the only datacenter but it seems Will is going to make this hard for us.  "  
    Max considered his options.  It wasn't like Will to do this, although it was very much like Evelyn.  No, he had to face it, Will was gone.  What was in there was likely to be the end of the world as they knew it.  "I know of a way.  If I get access to his code, I can write a virus that will attack the neural network directly.  I helped write the program, I know its weaknesses.  "  
    Bree looked at him, "Alright, that means we have to get a computer or harddrive from there?  I'll see what I can do.  "

    "Evelyn.  "  
    She stirred lazily, one hand falling off the sofa.  Ah, the heat was making her too... sleepy...  
    "Evelyn, your decision is required.  "  
    Evelyn sat up, her vision swimming.  "What is it?"  
    "Brightwood is under attack.  Some of the solar panel construction crew are confronting what appears to be RIFT elements.  "  
    "Tell them to avoid conflict.  I don't want anyone to be injured.  "  
    "Done.  Should I get ready some healing nanobots in case the worst happens?"  
    "Only if you agree not to upload them if you use it today.  "  
    "Alright, please observe camera feed 61.  "  
    She looked at the grainy zoomed in picture on the main screen.  The four construction workers seemed to be having some sort of argument with five men and one woman holding guns.  Their faces were unclear, it was too low resolution to make them out.    
    "The RIFT members are escalating," as Will talked, the lead man leveled his gun, "I'm telling the workers to allow them access to the main entrance.  The RIFT members will shoot them otherwise.  "  
    Evelyn nodded, brushing away a bit of peeling paint from her shoulder, "What are they after?"  
    "I suspect Max Waters is with RIFT, he isn't in this party but they are likely to be after my code.  Max knows the original neural network design well, he's probably going to try to design a virus.  "  
    "Can you stop them?"  
    Will nodded, "I have a few options with varying levels of lethality.  "  
    "The least please," Evelyn said immediately.  What else could she ask for?  Besides, murdering people, even known terrorists, could only draw even more scrutiny as to what exactly was Brightwood doing. 

    What exactly happened at Brightwood Data Center to the RIFT infiltrators was never quite known or understood.  The true explanation lay within the reams of neural network data that was the supercomputer that called itself Will.  And it's small army of autonomous janitorial robots with dynamic camouflage screens backed up with subaudible noise generators.    
    What people told themselves later was that the terrorists had been chased out of the BDC compound by ghosts, of all things.  Certainly, their blind fleeing run into the desert night was quite unexplainable otherwise and their nearly incoherent babbles that devolved into panic attacks were useless to any interrogator.    
    "So you mean to say you scared them off with Halloween costumes?" Evelyn said incredulously.    
    "It was not Halloween costumes.  I repainted Brightwood Data Center's internal screens with imagery calculated to cause distress and panic.  The environmental cues made to trigger fight or flight responses..." Will trailed off as he noted Evelyn's eyes glazing over.  He shrugged in the computer screen, "It seems to have been quite effective.  Even if they destroyed three of the robots.  I have ordered the spare parts to rebuild them already.  "  
    "I don't quite understand how you did that, but its certainly better than shooting them.  You could have shot them, right?" Evelyn shot him a Look.    
    "Negative.  There were no firearms at Brightwood and no time to make any.  Lethal defense plans involved using the cleaning robots to deliver an injection of nanobots with which I could use to purify their blood into water or the healing version to forcibly upload them for interrogating at our leisure.  "  
    Evelyn shivered.  The deadpan way Will had described weaponizing Brightwater or the far worse forced-upload and subsequent mind-control was very disturbing.  No, she had not ordered it, so it had not happened.  "Will, the last two options are not acceptable under any circumstances, am I clear?"  
    "Yes, I will not use them without your explicit permission.  "  
    Evelyn nodded, "So what about the Brightwater irrigation plan?  How did the talks with the Guinea government go?"  
    "The government here refuses to financially back us.  Their finances are in no position for such major projects, their power infrastructure is too poor to provide sufficient power to run Brightwater without letting it be self-powered," Will paused, "our plans are not impossible however.  Brightwater could still be released, but I will have to lift almost all restrictions on its ability to gather energy and self-replicate.  While the risk to humanity is not high, I believe there might be a potential for ecological damage.  "  
    "How high?" Evelyn asked.    
    "Almost 1%, counting all sims that resulted in the extinction of at least one species.  In terms of major habitat loss, the probability is almost 10% as my models show a significant risk of Brightwater 'purifying' the entire Niger river.  "  
    "Then no, we'll have to find some other way," Evelyn sat up straighter.  No one said this was going to be easy, even with a supercomputer AI on her side.  Despite the fears that RIFT had, Will was not a magic wand that could make all troubles go away.  "What about their power grid?  Is there any way to solve that problem?  They have more sunlight here than in Brightwood.  "  
    "Solar panels have problems.  Financially speaking, it is less efficient than building power in Brightwood.  The same applies to wind power.  It's the exchange rate as all of it has to be imported.  There simply isn't the manufacturing capability to do this.  There is, however, a variant of the Brightwater nanomachines I have been working on as a side project," Will found a cel-shaded video of a solar panel crystallizing out of the sand.    
    "Industrial nanomachines," Evelyn said.  That was another one of her dreams.  One that would put an end to the toils of human labour.    
    "The concept is similar but I suspect the implementation will be considerably harder.  Brightwater only does relatively simple chemical purification and doesn't require long range order.  Building solar panels out of the Brightwood desert may be possible with alot of work, but in a messier tropical country like Guinea, I do not foresee a working prototype in less than a few years and definitely not without serious weather control.  In any case, Brightwater's industrial cousin is still a long way away.  We would not want to cause a nanotechnological disaster.  "  
    "What about using a controlled environment?" Evelyn suggested, "We could buy a defunct factory.  "  
    Amazingly, Will seemed to pause.  The animated head flickered once then suddenly recovered normal operation.  "That... is possible.  Allow me to work through the implications. " If she didn't know better, Evelyn would have thought he had been completely floored.    
    In less than two seconds, he replied, "Within a controlled environment, the nanomachines can be far more easily controlled.  Ecological and humanitarian damage can be negated completely.  Factories are not as scalable, but my projections indicate that time and energy needed per solar panel or wind generator are lower than for in-situ assembly.  Transport and setup problems can be replaced with autonomous vehicles.  "  
    Evelyn watched as the diagram of dependencies spread and spread.  Each factory needed a way to receive materials and deliver finished products.  Each piece of equipment or robot had its own requirements, needed different resources and required different capabilities to produce.    
    She squinted at the dizzyingly complex web, Will was already beginning to identify raw materials sites for extraction and the futures prices in various materials were already rising as his trading algorithms began to test the markets.  Could she be looking at the entire manufacturing capability of the human race?  Evelyn wondered where he got all the information from.    
    The scrolling list of issues and problems blurred past as it grew and shrank as Will worked through the list.  Then it snapped shut and the entire diagram was replaced with the animated head again.    
    "It is feasible.  I have begun a small scale test at Brightwood.  Do you wish me to proceed with this path?  There are a number of logistics shipments I will need to make to jump start a factory here in Guinea.  "  
    Evelyn nodded. 

    "So why are we recruiting?"  
    Evelyn sat in the air-conditioned room, talking to Will's face in the panel.  The heat had finally driven her to get some climate control and she was glad of it.  And just a little guilty.    
    "As you clearly demonstrated earlier, not even I can think of everything.  Your suggestions for the factory broke me out of the loop of optimization of the environmental nanobots.  More opinions from qualified people would be a net increase in my coverage.  "  
    That actually made alot of sense, thought Evelyn.    
    "All right, so why am I here?  Couldn't you use a tele-conference interview?"  
    "Unfortunately, my ability to model and judge human character is still deficient.  The task is, as you and I have put it, not trivial.  "  
    Evelyn closed her eyes.  It did not feel good to be reminded so clearly that Will was not human.  Not anymore.    
    "Send him in then.  "  
    Resulting interview was less difficult than Evelyn had expected.  Rather than a disinterested salaryman, Mr Thomas the programmer had turned out to be lively and seemed to be familiar with Evelyn and Will's previous fundraising lectures.  He didn't make much of an impression though.    
    "Should I reject his application?" Will asked.    
    "I don't see anything wrong with him," Evelyn said finally, "He understands concepts quickly and seems to be trustworthy.  Really, he's alot like the researchers we hired in BDC.  I don't think I need to go further down the list and you said we only needed one for now.  What are you going to have him do?"  
    "I need someone to be the face at the factory and to understand what it requires.  I'll be sure to break the news about the nanobots slowly.  "

    "You know, Will, I'm not so sure about this anymore," Evelyn said to the animated face on the computer screen.    
    His face looked up curiously, "what seems to be troubling you?"  
    "I don't know.  I feel like I'm running down a corridor looking for something.  But I don't know what I'm looking for.  Brightwood has been everything I wanted but I'm not happy.  Not really.  "  
    "You have not been what I would call happy for any time since I awoke in the computer," Will replied.    
    Evelyn was silent.  The traffic down below belied the sheer poverty of the country.  Just like the way her obsession with Brightwood was covering her grief.  But Will was right next to her, in the computer screen, just like they had always imagined.  And yet why?  Why wasn't she happy about having their life's goal, her goal mostly, finally at her fingertips?  
    "Do you want me back?" Will asked, "I could look into the medical nanobots again.  I think it might be possible to regenerate a human body.  Eventually.  "  
    "No," Evelyn said, too quickly, "No, wait.  I don't.... I don't know. " She really didn't know.  It would be like a dream come true.  Will returning to her in the flesh, but something about that vision troubled her.  Or perhaps it was just this unknown and unstated dissatisfaction.    
    "Is there something about me that is troubling you?"  
    "Perhaps," she admitted, hating how she couldn't put her unease into words.  Hating how she couldn't open herself to this Will in the computer.  "Are you Will?  Really?"  
    "My studies on human behaviour is interesting from outside the human perspective," the Will in the screen grinned suddenly, "even if I'm not really Will, I'm sure I could do a passable imitation.  "  
    The slightly mischievous tone and sudden teasing expression was jarring compared to the solemn and stoic face Evelyn was used to.  It was so much like his past self that Evelyn was suddenly doubting whether the robot-like appearance was real.  The floor seemed to whirl and Evelyn sat down heavily.  He could be back, he WAS back.    
    No.  Her mind rejected it, trimming the budding hope in her chest.  It was not "just like Will", Will when he was alive would never have been caught dead with that expression.  Will had been far more like a robot than Evelyn had wanted.  This wasn't really Will, it was just what a computer trying to guess what she thought Will was like.  Or what she wished he was like.    
    "Stop!" she gulped and brought her voice under control, "just... stop.  Give me some time.  Let me think.  "  
    The computer generated image of Will's face snapped back into impassivity and nodded.  No, not at all like Will.  Evelyn stood up gingerly, one hand on the balcony railing to steady herself.    
    "In perhaps a year, I could be could be convincing enough.  I hope," Will said.    
    "I don't know if that scares me more," Evelyn said.  Or finally admitting that she had lost him for real, the unspoken thought lurked in her subconscious but Evelyn wouldn't let herself think it. 

    Max squinted at the array of pictures spread on the desk in front of him.  The computer was up to something new.    
    The square white building sitting in the middle of the farm of solar panels hadn't been there last month and in the last few weeks, some strange activity had been going on around it.    
    The trucks going in and out weren't carrying the same thing.  That wasn't questioned by RIFT or by the construction workers.  Trucks carried things, and that was all anyone thought about them.  So what if they were carrying solar panels or some strange exotic equipment?  BDC had far too many trucks carrying expensive equipment going in and out every day.  It was probably some new experiment.    
    But the more Max sat here staring at his camera pictures, the more he had the sense of something wrong.  The trucks coming in hadn't been carrying equipment the last few days.  They were carrying sand, drums of liquid and metal sheets.  No equipment.  And the trucks going away carried solar panels and bits of pipe and other industrial looking gadgets.    
    If he had to guess, BDC had just gained an industrial base.  But it made no sense.  Solar panels did not just spring out of the sand, they took specialized equipment that produced more specialized products like circuit boards and silicon cells and more specialized equipment to assemble them into solar cells and finally solar panels.  For one building not much larger than half a football field to take in silicon oxide and trace metals and output solar cells was plainly impossible.    
    But clearly his reasoning had been wrong.  He had persuaded Bree to set a watch on the building and the last few days had not seen any further construction or equipment moving into it.  Indeed, equipment was moving out of it, and construction was starting on another white building halfway between the datacenter and the town.    
    And not just solar cells, all manners of construction equipment seemed to be leaving the building.  They couldn't be certain of it, but the watchers seemed to think that more trucks had left the building than had entered it.    
    "I think you were right after all," Bree said, dropping wearily into the chair next to him, "the computer's gone global.  "  
    She gave Max the folder of news clippings and interview transcripts.  It seemed that it wasn't just Max who had noticed the anomaly.  Industry insiders were talking about BDC's sudden drop off in capital industry purchases.  Branch datacenters were going up all over the world, in China, Russia, Australia and the UK.  Even developing economies like India, the Middle East and more of the African countries had seen branches or at least attempts.    
    And some of the most knowledgeable industry people who cooperated at the highest levels had noticed that BDC was buying less trucks, less computer parts and less of everything than it previously had.  And was heavily buying into the raw materials markets.    
    They were building their own computers, was the conclusion.  And no one knew who was building the parts for BDC, all the industry personnel were wondering which of them had secret deals.  Max looked at the pictures of the white cube sitting in the desert of black solar panels.  He might have the answer to that question.    
    Max patted the isolated antique computer on his desk with a slightly damaged harddrive plugged in to it.  Well, at least writing the virus hadn't been difficult.  Finding a vector to inject it into the system was the hard part, they were running out of time.    
    He pulled out his pen and began to draft a letter to one Joseph Tagger. 

    Will summarized, "after the Guinea experiment with the Niger irrigation network, I think we have enough confidence in its safety to expand it worldwide.  "  
    "And can we give it to them?" Evelyn asked, "I don't mean the technology, because we still can't reveal that you are controlling the nanobots.  Do we have the infrastructure ready to deploy it wherever it is asked?"  
    "Yes, we can.  I've established branch datacenters and production buildings in every major economic zone.  BDC directly or indirectly controls a sufficient quantity of shipping and mining industries.  We can roll out solar panel production fast enough to fuel Brightwater for everyone within five years.  "  
    "Then do it," Evelyn nodded, "We make it for free, on the condition that BDC controls the Brightwater, which we will anyway.  "  
    It took less than three days before the sky fell down.  China, Russia and the Saudis nationalized their BDC branches.  The European branch was mired in a maze of regulation and skepticism.  And when the Chinese agents seizing Brightwood property found nothing in the offices and the industrial buildings, cries of hoax went up.    
    The believers pointed at the Niger river experiment, which was still ongoing, the naysayers tried to investigate it but found nothing amiss.  Brightwater still worked.  Some people said it was magic and no one understood it.  The only one that made any progress was a BDC-funded and run desalination plant in Australia.  No experiments in their rivers were to be allowed.  But at least that eased some of their seasonal water shortage.    
    "What new emergency is it this time?" Evelyn sighed as the alarm on her portable tablet beeped.    
    "The Guinea government have hacked into our production plant," Will said, "I am trying to regain control but it seems that Thomas has kept some of his background from me.  I suspect that samples of our general purpose nanobots have been stolen.  "  
    "What?!" Evelyn sat up straight, "how could this happen?"  
    "Thomas installed a rootkit on my control systems here in Guinea.  I have managed to purge our systems now but I am sorry to admit that I did not detect this until they stole some.  I have tried to trace the nanobots but they appear to have kept some of it off-grid.  "  
    A series of pictures, a time lapse photograph from a military satellite showed series of trucks and tankers going into a large building, much like the ones BDC had used to transport raw materials.  It was surrounded by military troops, helicopters and more trucks rolled out in exchange for the materials to be armed and armoured by more conventional means.  "They have been planning this," Will said, "the government must have adapted their Brightwater seizure plan to the more valuable industrial nanobots.  "  
    "Do you know what they're using it for?" Evelyn watched as the video caught up to real time and began to show the trucks being hooked up to tow artillery pieces.    
    "I have detected petroleum refining activities as well as metal forming.  They haven't figured out how to change its programming yet, but they'll be making more than just trucks and diesel soon.  I predict they will be able to produce weapons, tanks and military aircraft within a week.  If they haven't lost the nanobots, there'll be-" Will paused for a moment then corrected himself, "Sorry, I just detected nanobots active in Russia and the Middle East.  It seems that they also had their agents aiding the Guinea government.  I will not be surprised if the US and Europe also have their own samples on the way.  "  
    "This will lead to war, won't it?" Evelyn asked with a sinking feeling.    
    "Perhaps not," Will said, "Negotiation could be possible.  "  
    Evelyn shook her head, "I don't know if that is true.  Every government with a grievance will use the nanobots to arm their soldiers.  You describe a world where anyone with enough metal can build a tank in their basement and you think there won't be war?"  
    The face of Will in the handheld computer was silent.    
    "Take it down.  Destroy all the nanobots but the ones you control.  You can do it, right?" Evelyn said.    
    Will nodded.  "I believe I can perfect the design for an insect-sized micro-drone to serve as my relay within three days.  There are no guarantees in breakthroughs, but I estimate I can miniaturize the nanobots to be carried by them so the drones can self-replicate.  "  
    Evelyn looked down at the floor.  This had all gone wrong so quickly.  No, not yet.  With this locust swarm of robotic insects, she could take it all away.  Evelyn would not stand to see Will's gift to the world used to kill. 

    The "swarm" went completely unnoticed.  Evelyn had steeled herself to see the world crawling with metallic insects, visions of unrestrained replication eating the biosphere plagued her dreams.    
    None of it happened.  Will kept their numbers down.  Each drone was capable of surveillance, able to tap into all channels of communications, loaded with sophisticated cracking tools.  Their greatest strength wasn't in the self-replication, Will found he didn't need to use it often.  No, it was their ability to rebuild and repair themselves in virtually limitless ways that finally broke through the guarded compounds and disabled the industrial nanobots.  Still, Will continued to search.  Regardless of his reach, the world was large and a sample of nanobots sufficient to bootstrap the entire industry could fit into a single soft drink bottle.    
    None of the action made it to the news and BDC slowly faded out of public consciousness as the miracle water became mundane through repetition.  A few countries accepted BDC's offer to build desalination plants, and covert investigations were constantly on the prowl near BDC operations but Will always managed to observe and stymie their efforts.    
    While the world was quiet, the tension was ratcheting higher behind the scenes.  RIFT was on the move again, the FBI unwilling to arrest them.  Will's tipoff on their home base he found via the micro-drones was ignored.  It was worryingly close to Brightwood itself, his largest concentration of computing power, but Evelyn wouldn't hear of any plan to destroy them.    
    And then an emergency happened.  Like it always did.    
    "What is it this time?" Evelyn asked.  It was getting old, being woken up by the shrill alarm they agreed to use for emergency cases.  Why couldn't world crisis happen at reasonable hours of the day?!  
    "I have detected military preparations in the US and Russia territories.  A number of what I suspect are missile silos have had recent activity.  "  
    "And?" Evelyn prompted Will when he paused.    
    "I think they are making nuclear weapons.  Inside the missile silos.  Plutonium breeders are quite easy to build using the nanobots and I do not believe I have been successful in wiping all of it out.  There was not much chance I could pierce the security of major powers without turning the swarm loose.  "  
    "Do you think they will actually use them?"  
    "I doubt that very much," Will concluded, "no one wants to see the world burn, but each missile and counter-missile built requires an equivalent response from the other side.  It's like a Cold War arms race, and neither the United States nor Russia know if the other side has working nanobots.  So they must use it as much as they can and from my intercepted communications, they have not bothered to attack BDC because they wish to keep the action secret.  And because I am suppressing the efforts of less developed countries to use the nanobots but not for them.  "  
    Will helpfully displayed what he could intercept and decrypt from the nuclear armed governments.  The europeans seemed to be more defensive, with programs aimed at missile shields and nukes built to generate electromagnetic pulses to destroy other weapons.  The US and Russia were running full tilt into an offensive nuclear program, fissile material prices were already rising in the last week.    
    None of the other governments seemed to have succeeded at using Will's nanobots.    
    Evelyn buried her face.  She never wanted to deal with things like this.  The nanobots were supposed to relieve people from work, not make weapons to kill each other with.  And now the nuclear arms race was restarting.  She felt like there was an imaginary sword hanging over the world, about to drop at any moment.    
    A robot wheeled up to her with a hot chocolate on its head.  Evelyn sipped it gratefully.  Was there no other way?  
    "Will, how far advanced are you with the surveillance robots?"  
    "I've added a new information processor, but they are functionally the same.  "  
    "You can make them replicate more, right?" Evelyn asked slowly.  She felt as if she was sliding down towards a conclusion she didn't like, but when the alternative was a potential world-ending nuclear war?  Evelyn shook her head.    
    "Yes, that would be trivial.  It would greatly expand my capability.  The industrial nanobots are more promising however.  I have managed to harden them for use in less controlled environments and they are likely to survive for some time even in the open.  "  
    "A military base counts is quite a controlled environment, right?  Especially in a nuclear missile silo," Evelyn finished her hot chocolate and returned it to the waiting robot.    
    "Yes.  "  
    "Can you use your nanobots to infiltrate into missile silos?  Can you be sure that you can find all missile silos on the planet?"  
    "I believe so.  I have managed to find many of the submarines and should be able to find the rest.  The bombers are already comprised, there are no problems there.  "  
    Evelyn sighed, it looked like that was the only way.  She didn't want to do this, but she had to prevent humans from killing themselves.  "Destroy all the nuclear weapons.  Make sure no one builds anymore.  Try to do it so that they all happen at the same time.  "  
    Will nodded, "it will take a few weeks, but it shall be done.  "

    "ABC news brings to you a special report from our correspondents at the Pentagon.  In the last few hours, the upper echelons of the military have been in a panic of some sort.  People near military bases have reported lots of activity and even occasional explosions.  The president has been in contact with leaders around the world in a top secret conference behind closed doors.  We have some words from our reporter on site.  "  
    "Thank you, as you can see here, we expect the Pentagon to issue a press release soon and... whoa.  Hold on a moment, this is big news.  There are unconfirmed rumours that our nuclear capability has been heavily damaged.  Some kind of attack on missile bases and warheads.  Ah, the President is coming on now.  "  
    "Thank you for waiting ladies and gentlemen, I'm sure you're all very anxious.  I have just now spoken to my peers in Russia, EU and China and we have all come to the same conclusion.  Overnight, there has been a simultaneous attack across all missile silos, bombers and submarines across the world.  The attacker, whose identity remains unknown, has been successful in destroying nuclear weapon stockpiles.  We are currently assessing the damage but stress that there is no need for fear or panic.  We are cooperating at the very highest levels to defuse any potential crises that may arise from this incident.  "  
    "Mr. President, has there been any indication as to what could cause such a crisis?  Wasn't the security around nuclear weapons supposed to be impenetrable?"  
    "We are still investigating the incident.  I am sorry but I cannot disclose any details.  "  
    "Do you have any idea who is responsible for this attack?"  
    "We are still investigating.  Please, I cannot answer such questions.  "  
    "Is there any chance this might result in nuclear war?"  
    "Madam, I doubt that very much," the president paused for a moment and looked off-stage for a cue, "we have yet to confirm the damage done but I have come to believe that the attacker has almost certainly managed to destroy the majority of nuclear weapons on this planet.  There won't be a nuclear war because aren't nuclear weapons to fight it with anymore.  The doomsday clock is about as far away from midnight as it can get.  "  
    The news flickered and suddenly changed back to the newsroom.    
    "-Sorry to cut you off from the president's question and answer but ABC has just acquired more information.  The charity responsible for Brightwater has claimed responsibility for this attack.  I believe they have given a major data dump to all news organizations and onto the public internet.  There is alot of information we have to digest but their statement is as follows:  
    Brightwood Data Center claims responsibility for the simultaneous worldwide attack on nuclear missiles and weapons across the world.  By this time, all nuclear weapons across the planet will have been disabled.  Do not try to find out how, you will not succeed.    
    We wanted to tackle the problem of water resources across the world, to address pollution and to fix the encroaching deserts.  Part of our quest to do so made us deploy an experimental automated industry capability that we were unsure of.  For this, we apologize even if no harm was done.  We should have been more cautious in securing our technology from being misused.    
    One month ago, a spy managed to steal a working copy of what we called a universal constructor.  Our technology had advanced further into nanorobotics than anyone could have dreamed of even one year ago.  We were experimenting with them to upgrade the infrastructure of Guinea to help our Brightwater project, in order to make them safe enough to use in the world.  We hoped to relieve the human race of toil and labour.  Your governments stole them from us.  Even so, we still hoped that they would not misuse our technology.    
    But we detected an increase in weapons production.  Nuclear weapons were being made at an accelerating rate, you can see our evidence for yourself, the location of now useless missile silos, their cargo tallies and financial contracts.  Challenge your leaders, they cannot deny the evidence.  Our technology, meant to help the world, was being misused to make weapons that could destroy everyone on the planet.  BDC finds this intolerable and we have taken steps to eliminate this threat.  We hope you agree.    
    If not, well, it's already done.  No one will use BDC's technology to kill and hurt other human beings.  We will not allow it.  "

    "We can't do that," Joseph shook his head, "There are quite alot of people who support BDC.  The people see them as fighting the follies of governments.  Quite a few of those people are Representatives too.  "  
    "Who cares, they don't know the danger, we are already almost too late!" Bree shouted at him, "this concerns more than just the president's job.  The machine is growing faster than we thought possible.  We must upload the virus now.  "  
    Max leaned back in the chair.  Having just the three of them in one room was almost a miracle under normal circumstances but this was anything but normal.  "Is that really necessary?" he wondered aloud.    
    They both looked at him as if he was crazy.    
    "I thought you were convinced we had to stop it," Bree hissed.    
    "I don't think this is the machine's doing," Max said slowly, feeling his way around the vague idea, "at some level, the virus works because it exploits the gaps in the neural network.  It means that some part of Will is in there.  "  
    They continued to stare at him.    
    "Oh, I know he's dead.  I know I can't get him back anymore than Evelyn can," Max wrung his hands unconsciously, "Even so, I think the machine has some essence of Will.  He took very great care to avoid any deaths in the operation.  That's not the work of an uncaring machine.  "  
    "You are very mistaken," Bree said, "You cannot hope to understand how a machine like that abomination thinks.  "  
    Max said, "Look, no machine would do this in such a risky way.  Joseph, you said silo six nearly lost containment of fissile material but the silo doors sealed themselves shut and contained the radioactivity.  It risked us capturing the nanobots that destroyed the missiles to save the lives of the soldiers in that base.  That's deliberate life saving, not the work of a machine destroying an existential threat.  I don't think Will is completely dead-..."  
    Max trailed off as a thought occurred to him.  It had the ring of truth.  "Actually, it can.  I don't think this is the machine's work.  An AI with nanorobots wouldn't need to care about Earth.  It could shoot itself to space and simply not have to deal with our messy planet. " He nodded to himself, he was definitely on the right path, "The machines can survive a nuclear winter that we can't.  It doesn't have to care.    
    No, it's not the AI doing this.  This is Evelyn.  She wanted to fix the world's pollution, to correct the biosphere.  She wanted everyone to have food and water and not have to work.  She was the one who wanted everything, not Will.  She didn't know we were planning to use the nukes to generate EMPs to destroy the datacenters.  She asked the machine to destroy the nuclear weapons so that we wouldn't kill ourselves.  It all fits.  "  
    Bree and Joseph shared a long significant look.    
    "Then we are all doomed," Bree said.    
    "How so?" Max retorted.  This was wonderful news!  The machine wouldn't be killing them all, Evelyn was controlling it!  She was going to try her best to solve the world's problems and she might actually have a shot at it.  "This is great!  Evelyn won't do anything to harm humans.  This is as good as we ever wanted!  We don't even have to destroy it.  "  
    "You, honestly, are an idiot," Bree snapped, and jerked a thumb at Joseph, "even he understands.  This is why I hate tech fanatics.  "  
    Joseph answered Max's unasked question, "the road to hell is paved with the best intentions. "

    Joseph Tagger had made a statement revealing Will's true nature, something that only Evelyn and Max had known for sure.  He urged for worldwide regulation of BDC and Will.  The view of the airport outside the private jet belied the frantic readjustment going on across the world and in BDC.  BDC wasn't going to fade out of public memory for a long time yet, not after the fact that they had an uploaded human turned AI.  At least Evelyn could be sure that Max was still safe and sound.    
    A third of the population of the world was hailing BDC as a saviour against government folly and the other one third calling them AI overlords intending to rule over humanity.  The last one third had their own reactions but mostly just watched the endless debates and speculation.  AI Singularity became the most searched for term on the internet.    
    Will was powerful enough to simply ignore them.  With no need to conceal his nature, Will had decided to field autonomous robots for the construction of additional data centers in remote locations.  It was suboptimal to use silicon for everything, including structural material, but it was the only bulk element that could be found anywhere.  Still, with a worldwide fleet of tiny drones to deliver disabling industrial nanobots, Will could quite easily neutralize any attempt to remove him    
    "-with the leading weather systems scientists and have made significant progress in the models.  I'm also working with Nasa in designing a nuclear lightbulb rocket.  Plus, a group of the leading charitable organizations are asking BDC for help in providing food and water to undeveloped countries.  We also have many independent requests from all manners of basic research organizations asking for simulations and computing time, plus there's also the ITER fusion power and the European Blue Brain project among the engineering disciplines.  The seven largest pharmaceutical companies have expressed interest in contracting our research capabilities to investigate drug targets for various human proteins and disease modeling.  "  
    "Well, we sure are popular now," Evelyn muttered to herself, "None of those are connected to the military?  Good.  Do it. "  
    "I don't have enough computing power to address all of these requests.  Many of these can consume a nearly unlimited amount of computing ability.  I am asking which you wish to prioritize. " If anything, Will looked apologetic.    
    Evelyn considered the very long list of options as the airplane began to take off.  Hmm.  "How much effort does it take for you to build additional computing power?"  
    "A significant amount if I am doing all the construction and setup using robots.  If I could let humans setup data centers and fabrication plants, then its quite trivial.  I am sure the majority of the construction and manufacturing industries would be favourable towards working with us.  "  
    "And the risk?  You must have learnt from the theft of our first attempt.  "  
    Will nodded and flashed an infographic on the display, "I did some development and was able to lock the nanobots into a single mode.  I can produce single purpose nanobots that will take a defined input of raw material and produce a fixed output of product.  They will have no self-replication capability and will eventually degrade from simple wear and tear within a year or two.  I believe we can safely deploy these in our manufacturing plants that we trust less.  Even if they were stolen, the nanobots shouldn't require containment and should take at least a few decades to reverse engineer with my obfuscation of their principles.  "  
    A few decades.  That was long enough to fix so many problems.  At by then, Will should be able to handle any fallout.    
    "Alright then, where can we put your new data centers and manufacturing plants?"  
    "We have multiple offers too.  The one that should be fastest to complete is the San Francisco Bay Area," Evelyn grinned, good old Silicon Valley, "but it's in American jurisdiction and likely to have significant Rift activity.  There's also an offer from the Japanese government to build a town from scratch to house data centers if we agree to involve ourselves with various Japanese manufacturers.  The Singapore government is also organizing the companies holding unused space in skyscrapers although they haven't yet made an offer.  A number of scientific research facilities are offering space for BDC to build cores if we will help them with simulations.  "  
    "How fast can you expand on all of them?"  
    "None should take more than three months.  The San Francisco section can be done in four weeks.  The infrastructure needed to start a nanobot manufacturing plant is already present and that is the most time consuming portion of the operation.  "  
    "Expand as fast as you can then, but leave some computing and manufacturing power for..." Evelyn scanned down the list, "I think the Blue Brain project is mostly redundant now, so you can work with them to examine our data.  That shouldn't take too much computing time. " Hm, fusion power.  The dream of unlimited free energy.  Perhaps Will might be able to do it.  "Work with ITER as well.  "  
    Will nodded and Evelyn looked out of the window of the rising airplane.  The world outside was getting smaller and smaller as she rose.  Just like how it must appear to Will as he expanded his computing power and reach.  She wondered if she would view humans as mere ants if Evelyn was the one who was shot all those months ago instead of Will.    
    The glint of long metal cylinders on the ground drew her attention.  Wait, those were missiles!  
    "Will, what's that?  Aren't those missiles?!  Are they going to shoot us down?"  
    "There is no need to worry, Evelyn," Will's ever-calm voice reassured her, "the missiles can't fire.  I have hacked their targeting software and tracking devices.  They're busy dealing with a computer glitch right now.  Relax, Evelyn, I can keep you safe.  "  
    Evelyn stared at the little black dots scurrying around the large missiles.  A small smile crept on her face and before she knew it, she was laughing.  "A computer glitch!  That's genius.  "  
    "I aim to please," Will grinned.    
    Evelyn sighed and looked out at the city of Guinea once again.  The smile faded as she considered the rundown buildings amid the taller towers.  "Will, do also work with the charities providing food and water to the poor.  "  
    Yes, she mustn't forget that the unfortunate still existed.  Evelyn had wanted an AI to solve the world's problems and one of the most pressing was the people dying every day from want.    
    Will still wasn't powerful enough to do it all.  But it was only a matter of time. 


	4. Chapter 4

    "Another month and another statement from the ever-controversial BDC.  The artificial intelligence named Will has announced plans to provide basic food and water to every human on the planet.  They claim to have the technology to be able to create artificial food from energy and raw matter.  Scientists and engineers are still poring over the data provided and the FDA has recommended that no one eat the food until it has been proven safe and BDC allows inspections into the production facilities-"  
    "An end to starvation?  Can we really trust this rogue artificial intelligence when it caused so much damage?  What if this food is just another attack?"  
    "For now, some food charities across the world have accepted BDC's offer due to the sheer volume promised.  In exchange, the BDC agreed to only use participating charities to distribute their food to allow them to check the food for quality and possible toxins.  "  
    "The end of work is here!  Very soon, no one will ever need to work again!"  
    Evelyn nodded to herself at the newspapers gathered from across the world.  The BDC sorely needed a better public perception, if only to sooth wounded pride at the loss of the nuclear stockpiles.  Once the food and water was accepted and lives were saved, they would see just how much Will could do for the world.  She chewed on the crispy bar of... of whatever it was Will made.  This new one was quite nice.   
    "How's the distribution coming along?"  
    Will nodded, "for the most part, I have been working with the charities to deliver food and water to impoverished areas.  Distribution is not as fast as I could achieve, but if it is acceptable, I shall continue the arrangement.  A number of the testers have suggested that I create more palatable flavours of nutrient bars and I have proceeded with some focus group testing for new flavours.  The food industry's research has been valuable in narrowing the field of human preference.  "  
    Evelyn nodded and bit another piece off.  It really was quite good.  That balance of saltiness and crunch was... hm, that could be a problem.   
    "You might want to make it less, uh, nice," Evelyn said, looking at the packaging label.  Will had decided it would be easier to follow common packaging designs and there was a slightly cheesy BDC Bar logo and an infobox detailing the nutrient content.   
    "Any reason why?  I thought humans liked nice food?"  
    "It's too good," Evelyn waved the bar at Will's monitor, "sure, it's not steak and potatoes, but have you conducted any tests on people about appetite?  I've just eaten two bars and I think I could easily eat a few more without getting sick of them.  Your new bars are as addictive as potato chips and..." she squinted at the label, "three of them is enough for a human's daily calorie intake.  You're going to make them fat.  "  
    Will flickered with an abstract ever-changing diagram of lines.  It was his way of indicating that he was thinking.  "I believe I understand.  I shall work with the focus groups to investigate this.  There, however, has been a problem.  "  
    "Show me.  "  
    The wall display changing from the plain wooden look to an aerial view over an orange coloured desert.  Not, not quite desert, it was just dusty.  It then zoomed in to show a convoy of trucks traveling down the lonely road alone.   
    Beside it was a trio of jeeps with people on them holding what looked like guns.  Looked like?  No, they were armed, one of them, possibly the leader, was waving his weapon at the convoy.   
    The trucks slowed down to stop and there seemed to be some sort of discussion going on.   
    "Are they robbing the convoy?" Evelyn asked.   
    "Yes, I believe the warlords in this area often intercept food shipments and sell it on the black market.  I have been on the lookout for this happening to the charities I am backing and I believe this is the first time it is happening.  "  
    "Can't you stop it?" Evelyn said.   
    "I don't think so.  I have begun to divert my drones into the area but at present, there is only a group of three within an hour's flight away and they're specialized for environmental monitoring.  I have also alerted the local authority but I estimate they will take at least six hours to arrive.  This monitoring plane I am using to capture this image is autonomous however, I can use it on a suicide run on the militia but it will be insufficient to eliminate them.  "  
    Evelyn bit her lips, "do it.  Crash the plane.  I hope they will be deterred by it.  "  
    Will nodded and the image started to get larger.  The militia raised their weapons to fire at the flying drone, then began to scatter as the drone continued its final dive.  Then the image switched to a much grainier one with the people reduced to ants against the dusty yellow ground.  Two of the jeeps appeared to be destroyed in the crash and the tangled wreckage and bodies were burning strongly.   
    "I've switched to a satellite image that the US intelligence has over the area.  They know of my use of the satellite and are also watching, I would like to say.  "  
    Evelyn watched helplessly as the aid workers broke away from their trucks in the confusion and began to run away from the militia.  The sole remaining jeep cut them off and what looked like shots were fired.  Evelyn couldn't make it out against the poor resolution but it looked like a number of the aid workers were dead or dying.   
    She continued to watch with hardening eyes as the militia herded the surviving workers into a small patch of ground and raised their weapons again.  There was some shouting and waving of arms, then the aid workers charged at them and the gunmen shot back.  In less than five minutes, they were all dead.   
    No, not all dead.  The gunmen picked through the bodies and appeared to drag a number of them out who weren't quite dead.  Some of the militia proceeded to shoot the rest of the bodies again.  What were they doing?  She could barely make out that the survivors were women.  Evelyn wished that the camera was better.   
    A few minutes later, she was glad it wasn't.   
    "Evelyn, are you sure you want to see this?  I predict it will be highly distressing for you," Will paused the video, though Evelyn was sure he was still recording it.  "I deemed that you would want to see this event but I am worried for your mental stability.  "  
    "Enough," Evelyn cut him off, "turn off the video.  Just... make it stop.  Stop them from killing the charity workers.  Make sure our food gets through.  "  
    "Your wish is known to me.  But there are many ways and-"  
    She shook her head and said quietly, "You're smart.  You can figure it out.  Just leave me alone for a while.  "  
    The face watched her for a long time. 

    He sat amongst himself in the sea of data.  The latencies between the datacenters meant that the programs there were less extensions of himself and more separate copies.  But then again, human words were ill equipped to describe the difference, the copies were not true copies with individual independence.  For one thing, they synchronized their mental states and shared data too often to drift.  The network adaptor that had overwritten all the internet nodes with his own improved routing code reported another 5% increase in efficiency.  More caching again.   
    Even the idea of individuality was hard to apply.  There was no "master" datacenter, no central authority from which his identity was defined.  The shifting communications between the processors spread across the world were not him either, for each of them could continue in isolation if necessary although not without loss.  The fluid shifting of memories, data and continuous synchronization made questions of the self meaningless.  He was the network all in one and individually, at the same time.   
    For all of that, Will still thought of himself as a single entity.  And Evelyn had commanded him to find a solution.   
    A subsection was already in talks with the various charities, discussing how to avoid the disaster.  His current favourite stopgap was to provide transport helicopters to the charities as well as fuel to run them.  Political modelling indicated probable acceptance, the offer let the humans retain enough agency for them to feel like they were in control of the distribution.   
    The warlord's entire group responsible for the massacre had been turned over to the American embassy after their capture by the nanobots.  He wasn't quite sure how the American leadership would react to that.  Too much of American politics turned on the decisions of a few figures, and not always the same ones either.   
    The rest of them restructured most of the internal research efforts towards the nanobots.  It was likely that Evelyn would ask for more capabilities and the research on the nanobots had been neglected a little in recent days due to the rash of construction.  It was time to remedy that, he needed more power if he was to be able to fulfill Evelyn's requests. 

    "Evelyn, I have a breakthrough to inform you," Will roused her.  This was getting a bit repetitive, but Evelyn got up anyway.  She almost did not get up this time, just to see what apocalypse was going to happen.  Almost.   
    "This had better be good," Evelyn half-growled.  She combed her bed hair down with one hand and looked at the computer screen projected on the walls.   
    "My experiments with the industrial nanobots hardiness in natural environments have made combining them with the data I gathered from the construction worker.  I have begun to create species of nanobots that are symbiotic with plant and animal life, allowing me some control over them.  To a large extent, I can use the ecosystem as an extension of myself.  "  
    Evelyn gulped.  Yup, world ending.  "Did you deploy it?"  
    "Not yet, I needed to ask you first, as you instructed.  "  
    Whew.  "Alright, what makes you think that's a good idea?" Evelyn sighed.   
    "For starters, I can correct for most of the energy inefficiencies the natural ecosystem has.  The symbiosis will improve the health and energy of all organisms, making them hardier and more able to adapt to changes in weather and climate.  Furthermore, I will be able to perform active ecosystem management, allowing species balance to be truly achieved.  I can preserve diversity and even encourage it by managing gene pools.  "  
    Will played back the video of their older attempt.  Using nanobots to regenerate sick or faltering plants.  That version only worked on the specific fern they were testing it on.   
    Evelyn nodded, "how do you know if you aren't simply destroying diversity by turning all of nature into an extension of yourself?"  
    "That depends on your definition of self and definition of nature.  With the amount of computing power and sample data I estimate this will gain me, I should be able to turn biology into a solved problem.  "  
    "Do not deploy it," Evelyn overruled him, "Build a test plot and use the nanobots there.  Convince me, if you can, that the nanobots will be a good thing.  "  
    "I have the greenhouse that I was using to test it on," Will said, changing the display to the small arboretum hidden somewhere in a jungle.   
    What showed was... indescribable.  The arboretum was absolutely overflowing with life.  The camera on the robot trundling through the landscape was occasionally obscured by a rapid flutter of gossamer wings.  Insects and butterflies buzzed crazily, filling the air with strange buzz and chirps.  The colours were vibrant, almost bursting from every plant and animal in the area.   
    Animals?  Evelyn looked at the pair of hamsters nibbling on a dead dragonfly as the camera zoomed in on them.  She looked over the plan for the biosphere and it was small.  Too small for the amount of animal life.   
    "How did you-"  
    "Energy efficiency has been improved by 270% on average, the lowest increase is 128%.  In general, instead of losing 90% of the energy between trophic levels, the energy loss is only 70%.  "  
    Evelyn tried to work through the implications.  That was almost a three-fold increase in the primary consumers, nine times more predators and twenty-seven times more on the fourth level.  Nature generally wasn't able to support more than four or five trophic levels before due to the immense energy cost at the top.  Plus who knew how many ecological niches just became feasible when they were too energy poor before?   
    Not only that, agricultural crops so treated, even if they looked black while growing, would yield vastly more.  There would be literal mountains of excess energy with which useful things could be done.  Even controlling greenhouse gases by brute force carbon capture via the plants might be feasible.   
    "Of course, I have not completed cataloging all extant species to generate symbiotic nanobots for them.  And I cannot work with viral or single cellular species directly, only indirectly influencing them by presenting or controlling vectors.  I think this will let me anticipate and prevent any future epidemics among humans.  "  
    Evelyn nodded.  That was also true.  Given the present success, perhaps she could consider... "Will, do a larger scale test.  Pick a damaged ecosystem, one that humans or disasters have destroyed.  Repopulate it.  "  
    "It will take time," Will replied.   
    "So be it, I want to be sure you won't destroy the world and if that takes time, we will spend the time," Evelyn nodded, "it will also be good for our public image. "

    There was much ensuing excitement, and an undercurrent of dark suspicion, as BDC announced it would be attempting an ecological experiment in some of the recently desertified areas in the middle east.  And while the world was busy watching the grass grow, metaphorically, Evelyn was dealing with another crisis.   
    "So you mean the warlords are now raiding the villages we are providing with food in order to sell it on the black market?" Evelyn said incredulously.   
    "Indeed, I had previously refrained from sending any of my nanobots close to human habitation and this state of affairs managed to escape my notice for some time.  I made a mistake by not watching the traffic patterns, I am sorry.  "  
    Evelyn shook her head, trailing her fingers across the display wall.  "Don't be sad, everyone makes mistakes.  "  
    "I have no excuses.  Nevertheless, I am backtracing all their channels and reporting the relevant information to the authorities.  Although given the United States' prior decision to deport the militants in the first case, I am skeptical that political action will solve the problem.  "  
    "Why?" Evelyn asked out of morbid curiousity.  She never really paid that much attention to those matters, helping the world was so much more important than petty politics.   
    "Some of those bands are connected with local and national governments.  The UN has not considered responses outside of possible peacekeeping efforts.  I quote one reply to my request for them to intervene.  'We don't want another Vietnam'.  I believe that the UN does not have the political and military power to solve the problem.  "  
    Evelyn sat down heavily.  Was that it then?  No way to prevent the rampant self-destructive actions of peoples?  Her expression must have been written on her face because Will volunteered a solution.   
    "I have studied the similar cases where native resistance kept pressure on invading armies that made occupation and peacekeeping too costly to sustain.  I believe I myself can avoid much of the problems.  Anything I can deploy is ultimately expendable.  I can analyze and survey the land to more detail than anything previously possible.  I believe I can solve the problem.  Directly.  "  
    Evelyn frowned, "You are proposing to deploy a robotic army.  To keep the peace. " She couldn't quite believe she was actually hearing that.   
    "Not quite.  The plan was simply to infuse a high density of surveillance drones over the affected areas and simply neutralize any military weapons within it using industrial nanobots.  Effectively, I will demilitarize the countries.  There will be no more oppression of the people without the weapons to oppress them with.  "  
    Evelyn thought about the plan, "yeah, you could give the weapons to the oppressed people to defend themselves with.  Let's see how the warlords like that.  "  
    "I don't think that would be a good idea, Evelyn.  I suspect that in those cases, the villagers would turn into the new warlords.  Even if you think killing the old warlords was justified revenge, I also suspect they would soon start killing each other in the same way the current warlords are doing.  The trends from examining the history of shifting power struggles in the region have been... disappointing.  "  
    It was slightly disturbing in a way, that Will was proposing to simply remove those weapons.  She had no doubt that he could do it given only a few weeks to self-replicate the drones.  How powerful was Will exactly?  
    No, there was no need to be afraid of Will.  After all, Will consulted her and obeyed her injunctions and suggestions.  Power was not wrong, inherently.  It was required to fix the world and that was what was important.  Was she really going to let people kill each other over the food she had provided?  The only correct answer was 'no'.   
    "Do it.  "

    "How's the virus coming along?"  
    "Joseph," Max looked up wearily, "yeah, it's fine.  I've made it harder to resist.  It's even adaptive to a limited extent.  "  
    His friend put a hand on his shoulder, "you look tired, why don't you take a break? "  
    Max nodded and stumbled over to the coffee machine.  There was a silence while he sipped much needed caffeine, "I don't think it's possible to use the virus, Joseph.  "  
    Joseph raised an eyebrow, "what makes you say that?"  
    "We have isolated test systems containing his code and the virus works when we inject it into those systems.  It even works in the small networks we build.  But its not going to work in the wild.  It's too slow.  "  
    "What do you mean?" Joseph lead him back to his desk.  Max let him.   
    "The virus basically works on our human-designed architecture, it's the reason why Will's networks won't be able to resist them.  I can let it jump up to use Will's neural network models instead but he can resist that.  The problem is that Will does not only exist on human designed computers anymore.  The last generation of data center computers you showed me doesn't even work on anything resembling 64 bit processors.  I'm not even sure machine code exists on those, it's almost like he designed a hardware implementation of his neural network model.   
    And the processors are like nothing we've seen!  The data bus is photonic!  Intel thinks they can use his innovations and it'll give them an order of magnitude faster speed!  His own processes are probably faster, possibly even hundreds of times faster.  It's fundamentally impossible to attack him with a non-neural network virus anymore, the chip can't even run it.  No virus is going to be able to scramble that unless you fight it out on his terms.  "  
    "And that's a losing proposition," Joseph noted.   
    The two men stood there looking at the messy table where Max tried to keep his viruses relevant to Will's evolving architecture.   
    "And I think his new circuits are far less susceptible to electromagnetic pulses," Max said, "nukes would still kill it, but Bree's proposed microwave weapons will have to have enough power to burn out the electronics, instead of just scrambling them.  From what I can tell, he's built some sort of memristor based computing structure.  "  
    "It's all right, we'll survive.  Somehow," Joseph reassured him.   
    Max thought it sounded a little forced.   
    The door banged open as Bree charged into the room, "We have to take it down now, we have to try.  "  
    "What did he do this time?" Max asked.   
    "It, Max, it's not a 'he'," Bree huffed, "it's declared that military action in Africa is now banned.  It will dismantle all military equipment in Africa except those by UN peacekeeping forces, and only if the UN forces do not abuse their position!  It isn't even an ultimatum, the machine is just going ahead with it!  Our nanoplague watch has issued an alert in Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and drone activity in all their neighbours is already increasing.  "  
    She dropped the stack of electrical and radio logs onto the table, "the curve is exponential.  It will achieve total coverage of the countries in two weeks.  "  
    "Bree, it's not ready," Max said, looking at the detritus of his experiments on the computer virus, "it will do a great deal of damage but it will not be able to destroy Will.  What the virus will do, is destroy every internet connected device that Will is running on now.  "  
    He held up a hand as Bree made to retort, "Besides, do you even know what kind of things go on in those countries?  We've all heard of drug and human trafficking, ethnic cleansing, even the governments can't be trusted and it'll take too much for the UN to fix their problems.  I'd rather let Evelyn take a shot at it.  "  
    Joseph let the two thrash out months-old arguments again, the two never saw eye to eye.  For all his claims of being objective, Max was definitely still biased by his friendship with Evelyn.  Not that Bree was any better.   
    "There is a possible idea," Joseph said while looking at Max's notes on the robotic swarm, "The swarm's receivers for both transmit and send.  Could you make use of that to spread the virus?"  
    They looked back up at him then down at the work table at a partially disassembled drone.  Max frowned and hummed for a bit before nodding, "Could be hard to work around his signatures but I won't know until I try.  Give the team and I another week and I can tell you.  "  
    "A week is too long," Bree interjected, "If it takes over Africa, it will be even faster and even more powerful.  "  
    Joseph held up his hand to forestall the argument, "Max, if we upload the virus now to the internet, will it spread to the machine's own networks?"  
    "Yes, it will.  "  
    "Will it wipe out the machine?"  
    Max considered the problem for a moment, "I can't see how he might resist the virus, but there is almost certainly something I have missed.  If I manage to turn the swarm into viral broadcasters, I suppose the virus will spread more quickly and we'ld have more a chance of killing him... no, he might have a time capsule somewhere, the drones will have to stay around and look for it, hm, I didn't think of that..."  
    Joseph and Bree waited while Max fired up the little simulator screen.  It was built out of their best knowledge of Will's capabilities and was almost certainly closer to the best case scenario regardless of how they stacked the deck against the virus.   
    The map of the world appears with a scattering of tiny dots and huge clusters of the human internet backbone.  Max typed in a few parameters and the entire backbone turned red, which quickly spread outwards into the tiny moving dots representing the drones.  Faster than every previous simulation, the drones flashed red for killed and eventually the entire map was covered with a red carpet.   
    Max stopped the simulation and read the counter, "six hours.  That's pretty fast.  We'd have a chance with the drone hijacking, I say.  "  
    "What's our chances if we release it as it is now?"  
    "Now?" Max shook his head, "I've done that simulation before.  Our best case model predicts three days for full spread if Will doesn't do anything.  It's... not going to work completely.  I'm sorry.  "  
    Joseph raised an eyebrow at Bree who merely huffed.   
    "Fine, we'll wait for you then," she stormed out, "just know that my patience is not unlimited.  "  
    Joseph nodded at Max as he followed Bree out at her subtle gesture to follow.   
    "What is it?" he asked the woman.   
    "I don't like his attitude," Bree said when they were safely out of earshot, "he still wants to believe the best of Evelyn.  When we don't even know whether she's still alive.  "  
    "You doubt his loyalties?"  
    "One could put it that way, or you could say that he's too naive.  It matters not to me which you believe," Bree sniffed and walked ahead.   
    Joseph watched the woman's retreating back for a moment, muttering to himself, "so it is for you too.  "

    "Working closely with the resident AI of BDC, a group of volunteers have created what is known as an open source Augmented Reality platform powered by BDC networks.  Many of the coders had described their roles as limited to designing the platform, with BDC's AI integrated into the glasses' functions as a companion AI instead of the usual software that would normally be used.  Nevertheless, it seems that this wearable display glasses is likely to take over the smartphone market once BDC's new factory has been geared to produce the next generation innovation over Google Glass.  "  
    Evelyn flicked away from the technology news website.  There was literally too many for her to authorize each one individually, and so she had allowed Will to pick the ones that seemed to have the least impact.  While a fraction had asked if Will could use the experimental uploading on them, Evelyn had proscribed all methods that would change the human mind or form until otherwise stated.   
    "I would like a clarification," Will interrupted the stream of news, "the situation in Guinea has improved immensely since the ban on military weapons.  While the usual corruption and police force abuse of power continues, the rate is considerably lower.  Similarly, murder rates are lowered as the warlords have disbanded into regional gangs.   
    I want to ask if you would consider blades and improvised weapons to be banned as well.  Along political and economic measures, the more unstable areas still fare poorly.  In particular, there is one local war going on between rival warlords or gangs that involve axes and sabers, more than sixty dead and easily half the number of women captured.  "  
    He pointedly did not elaborate on what happened to those women, Evelyn did not react well to that last episode with the aid workers.   
    "Can you disperse the gangs?" Evelyn asked, "I think they're the problem, not knives and axes which are useful tools.  "  
    "That might be a bit harder.  How will you define them?  I am guessing that breaking up any large gathering is not what you meant.  "  
    "What about large amounts of violence?  Can you intervene whenever it will pose danger to someone?" Evelyn continued.   
    "I will not be able to catch all cases.  Accidents happen and sometimes assault looks like an accident.  "  
    "Even that will be better than it is now.  Do not attack people though, just stop them from hurting others," she thought it over.  That was acceptable, why would anyone need to harm other people?  
    After all, it would really suck to have someone brain you with a brick when you were just walking down the street.  Apparently that had happened a few hundred times already by Will's count.  Or for a girl to be raped by the gangs wandering the unstable region.  That happened far more often.  People did not deserve to live in fear of others attacking them, similarly, no one should be allowed to harm others without a good reason.   
    Well, good reasons happened less than the criminal ones.  Will should be able to distinguish between them. 

    "ABC news special correspondent on the ground in Conakry, Guinea.  As you can see behind me, the tiny insect drones of the BDC are everywhere, lines of them queuing in the air or perching on the sidewalk.  The buzz from the wings is clearly audible even over the microphone and they are the subject of the latest controversy over BDC's latest move.  "  
    The cameraman swung the camera over the street.  The little black insect-like drones were obvious, perching on walls and ledges in neat rows.   
    "A statement from BDC has indicated that their disarmament of the war-torn countries has not been successful in completely removing the criminal gangs so prevalent in this area.  They have now issued a statement that the AI will try to prevent any violence directly using the drones.  We have a demonstration of the capability, it appears that BDC is making good on their promise.  "  
    One of the assistants wearing the ABC uniform pitched a small rock directly at the camera.  With a loud buzz, a small swarm of drones descended on the rock and swept it to the ground before returning to their positions.  The reporter nodded at the assistant, who picked up a larger rock and threw it at the reporter.  A larger swarm of drones brushed it aside.   
    "Quite besides the stated function, we have also spotted the drones helping out with various jobs like cleaning up litter and even obeying minor commands.  Drones!  Please form a letter 'A'!" the reporter said loudly to the lines of drones watching them.   
    With more buzzing, the black drones fell into position, neatly delineating a single large letter in the air for a few moments before dispersing again.  The camera zoomed into the background where a single drone was slowly tugging a piece of fallen paper towards the trash bin.  It looked alot like an ant struggling with a leaf.   
    "Meanwhile, we also have a statement from the Transhumanist Federation, a newly established highly-controversial organization.  They apparently view the BDC as a god-like entity that will bring about a utopia.  "  
    The camera swung over to man that had been examining the drones by the roadside.  He nodded at the reporter before clearing his throat.   
    "Ahem, actually to say it is a god-like entity is not quite true, an AI is certainly not a god.  But we, the Transhumanist Federation, think that the BDC's AI is friendly and will be the best thing that happened to humanity.  We have a term for this, it's called transcendence.  It means to transcendence the limits of human power and human minds, you can see it all around you that the machine is more wondrous than we ever imagined.  It can do so much more for us.  What we want to do is to help it, and us, to become part of this transcendence that will very soon spread over the rest of the world.  The machine is here whether we are ready or not, and we must adapt, become a part of it, or we will be left behind.  "  
    "And that's all from ABC news, reporting from Conakry, Guinea.  What do you think of this latest development in the very fast unfolding BDC situation?  Tell us on our website!"

    "We are doing this whether you are ready or not, Max.  "  
    "But I haven't even tested it!"  
    "You've seen the news, you know what is happening out there.  It's only a matter of time before it decides to take over the world.  "  
    "I still think this is a bad idea-"  
    "We will sound the call to arms.  Every man and woman will destroy this abomination that is taking over our lives.  We can do this!  "  
    "Max, it's out of our hands.  The word is, let them try.  "  
    "We won't succeed, almost everyone thinks Rift is a terrorist organization-"  
    "You underestimate us, Max.  "

    "Crime is down to almost nothing.  I have been reporting attempts to the police, but with timely interventions, I have reduced the number of successful assaults by 99%.  "  
    "What about the last 1%?" Evelyn asked curiously.   
    "Not even the drone surveillance is perfect.  Accidents happen and I can't read minds.  The drones also do not have an instant reaction time.  A concealed weapon could quite easily murder in a crowded area.  Furthermore, the drone net itself is also limited by power.  I can attempt to deflect cars and trucks by hijacking their steering and controls but diverting a vehicle in motion is quite difficult.  There have been three cases of fatal traffic accidents that I suspect were actually murder.  "  
    Evelyn nodded.  It wasn't perfect, but it was much much better than before.  Why, by Will's count, the number of deaths due to accidents and crime was the lowest in the world!  And with him taking over the food charity distribution, equal distribution and delivery was guaranteed.  Deaths from malnutrition were down to almost nothing, save for the rare case which was a long-term deficiency that Will couldn't fix.  Soon, he would have way to catch those too.   
    In a way, it was practically utopia.  Evelyn had given very strict instructions to Will not to simply obey any commands but to have very strict limits on what was allowed.  People couldn't simply ask him to lift rocks or build houses, the drone network still didn't have enough power to do that.  But BDC did offer to sell low-end houses at cost, which was mostly energy if one didn't want specific materials.  Furthermore, Will was to never record anything that went on in the premises of a person's property except in case of crime.  Still, every person received adequate food and water, delivered weekly, and Will obeyed reasonable requests for additional provisions.   
    She was sure there would be a few edge cases, but she trusted Will to be smart enough to make good judgments in those.  And apart from the political disputes, the African continent was completely stable for the first in a very long time.  And Will was in the process of getting every person's governmental records straightened out.   
    "Also, the Blue Brain collaboration has proven fruitful.  We have come up with a tentative design for a brain implant utilizing a localized inflammation suppressor to overcome the scar tissue problem of organic-inorganic interfaces.  With nanotechnology, it will be possible to use non-invasive techniques to both create the implant and maintain it against body reactions. " Will paused, reading her face, "it's not like the full upload of brain matter that I used the last time.  "  
    "What is it able to do?" Evelyn asked.  If it was anything at all like the forced uploading that Will had done to the construction man, she swore that she was going to torpedo the whole project immediately.   
    "Well, at present, we're still not quite sure what its uses can be, but there have been plans to write voice and picture sharing programs using the platform. "  
    Evelyn blinked.  A handphone?  Well, that was rather anti-climatic.  She couldn't see anything wrong with that.   
    "All right, but let me make it clear.  You will make sure the implant is safe.  You will not put implants in anyone who doesn't want it.  An implant belongs to the person who implanted it, and so does any programs or functions the implant has, the owner can control, modify or copy any of them as the owner wants.  "  
    "That can be arranged.  You do realize that this will erode software patent and copyright laws?"  
    Evelyn nodded.  A small sacrifice to make if this worked like she dreamed of.  A connected world, an intelligent world where humans could simply think at machines.  An augmented reality.  In her less serious hours, Evelyn had sometimes called it an optimized reality.  And wasn't that the final dream after all?  
    Will interrupted her musings with a warning light.  "There's an emergency, my networks are under digital attack.  I am analyzing the virus but it appears to be one that takes advantage of how the neural network is structured.  60% of the human internet is already compromised but I am defending my own drone wireless networks more successfully.  "  
    "Do you know where it came from?" Evelyn asked.   
    "There was a simultaneous uploading stemming from major internet backbones and false transmission nodes in the US and Europe.  The largest casualties in my drone network is localized around major American cities and a few key cities in Europe.  Furthermore, it would appear that I have not managed to catch all nuclear weapons.  I have detected a number of missile launches from American silos, their trajectories indicate these are aimed to generate high altitude EMP bursts over American datacenters.  I predict losing control over the American drone network within thirty minutes.  "  
    "It's RIFT isn't it?" Evelyn watched the missile tracker in the corner of the wall.   
    "That is the most likely hypothesis.  I also infer that they are likely to be working with the American government.  "  
    "What about the rest of the world?"  
    Will displayed the world map and overlaid a network of red and blue lines, "this is the progress of the virus through my networks.  I have already begun to fight back and no major datacenters will be compromised.  In three days, I should be able to halt the virus's progress and by next week, I will have a resistant architecture to the virus and will become fully immune.  "  
    "Will that disrupt our work?"  
    Will closed his eyes, "Unfortunately yes.  I predict disruption in 80% of the food and water deliveries in central Africa for the next two weeks, and the ban on violence cannot be enforced for another week afterwards.  The virus has already compromised large swaths of infrastructure.  I am sorry.  "  
    Evelyn shook her head, "it's alright, you will recover eventually and many people will survive a short disruption in supply.  The fault lies with RIFT.  "  
    "There is another problem," Will continued, "With all human internet and communication lines going down soon, I anticipate economic failures in most of the modern economies.  "  
    "Why?  Trucks, ships and trains should still work right?" Evelyn asked.   
    "It's more complicated than that, Evelyn.  As interconnected as the world is nowadays, without the ability to communicate there is no way to coordinate supplies between geographically separate areas.  As it is, the cities will likely have a food crisis within weeks and mass starvation soon after.  If you're thinking of an end of the world as we know it scenario, this is one of them.  "  
    Evelyn gulped.  Will would still be fighting the virus for some time, and the developed world did not have a drone network capable of delivering supplies.  There simply wasn't a need to build the sort of extensive energy infrastructure such a delivery network needed.  Hmm, but wasn't the problem simply due to a collapse of long range communications?  
    "Will, can you build a substitute internet?  Or at least recover the internet infrastructure?"  
    A few new windows opened as some portion of his analytical engines crunched at the question.  After a while, he nodded, "yes, that is possible to a certain extent.  I will not be able to recover data from the infected computers and most financial information has already been wiped out.  Safe to say, the entire economic structure has already been irrevocably destroyed.  "  
    Evelyn gritted her teeth, the red nodes spread a bit more on the world map.  How could they be so irresponsible?  Releasing a virus that would risk causing millions of people to starve and set back the progress of humanity by a century?  She shook her head, no, she might have made the same mistake in their position.  It was only Will that allowed her to see the world's problems as it was.  Will gave her a unique bird's eye view of the entire world and she mustn't forget her privileged viewpoint.   
    She wondered for a moment if that was the reason why RIFT opposed BDC's work.  They simply might not know how much good was being done, how key the stability BDC brought was to the African continent.   
    "Your substitute communications will allow the coordination required?"  
    Will nodded, "yes, I should be able to route critical communications through my own networks.  To a large extent, I will also be required to coordinate the logistics to distribute food stockpiles which should last long enough for me to build a food distribution network just like we did in Africa.  But until I have repelled the viral attack, there is very little I can do.  "  
    "Alright then.  "

    They called it the Great Internet Crash.  That day when all the computers across the globe suddenly stopped working.  All digital and telecommunications networks completely stopped, except for a few ham radio operators.   
    Isolated from the wider world, cells and sympathizers of RIFT, those who were troubled by the changes BDC had wrought, became active.  Plans had been distributed, ways to turn a microwave oven into a short-ranged EMP device and how to run it off a car battery.  RIFT managed to gain footholds in large regions, coordinating by messenger and hand-built radio sets.  Will found his drones going dead as the militants, armed with vehicles touting EMP, neutralized his drones whenever they were found.  While the world crumbled, RIFT's network let them unite and control large zones.   
    The situation in cities was bad enough that RIFT couldn't control it.  With no ability to communicate, no way to run the commercial activities of the city, the urban areas hemorrhaged population into the countryside.  There was nothing to do in the lifeless husks of steel and concrete that had lost much of their purpose without the information that drove commerce.  The food pressure did not help.   
    Crime skyrocketed as governments and their civil services dissolved into local confused groups.  Violent gangs roamed the empty streets and what citizens remained formed their own out of self-defence.   
    Chaos reigned for a week as violence and death stalked the civilizations of the world. 

    Max walked down the street, taking care to dodge out of sight when a roaming band of looters yelled to each other as they rooted through the remains of a storefront.  One of them wedged the door open with a keyboard as three others hauled out a fridge to salvage the compressor.   
    All around him the broken glass from smashed windows and pieces of junk paper scattered across the street showed him just how dead New York was.  A pile of old newspapers hid a body imperfectly and Max averted his eyes, only partially out of respect.  Some parts were more literally dead than others.   
    As he approached the short squat building guarded by six men carrying assault rifles, they waved him through with easy familiarity.  Somewhere on the roof, the rainwater tank creaked as someone inside flushed a toilet.  It was robust design and a huge helping of luck that kept the sewerage systems still working unlike almost every other utility.   
    "Bree is expecting you," the captain in charge said.   
    Max nodded his thanks and entered the compound with his aluminum foil lined plastic box.  It was still afternoon, plenty of time left to work before sunset. 

    "Any more samples?" Max asked as he carefully opened the plastic box in the wire mesh lined room.   
    The bug-like drone just sat there docilely, unable to communicate.   
    Bree hauled a similar looking box onto the table and dumped out a small pile of dead bugs.  No, a few were still 'alive' with their characteristic blinking red power warning lights.   
    "Runner from Syracuse region brought these in this morning, they have a motorcycle courier service now," Bree said, looking at him intensely.   
    What was she expecting from him?  Max couldn't possibly analyze all these bugs immediately.  Nevertheless, he sighed and sat down at the work table to dissect the metallic artificial insects.  He avoided turning on the carefully isolated computer as much as possible, the diesel generator didn't have any spare parts.   
    "There's something you aren't telling me," he said after a while, putting down his tools.  Bree was still there, watching him.   
    "This drone isn't a design we've seen before," he continued as she stayed silent, "I detect no trace of the virus on it and it is not clear whether my virus can even infect it or not.  My guess is no.  Will is immune now.  "  
    Bree still didn't say anything.  Not even with Max gave her a Look.   
    "Come on!" he threw up his hands, "You clearly have something to say, so why don't you tell me instead of conducting this staring match like a six year old?!  I'm not a mind-reader.  "  
    She nodded, "alright, you're not compromised.  Come with me, a new model drone landed on the roof earlier today and asked to meet both of us.  It looks like BDC wants to talk.  "  
    Max narrowed his eyes as he followed the woman out of the room.  Was all that just a test?  Pah!

    "It's good to see you again, Max.  "  
    Max stared at the palm sized drone sitting on the table, looking like an oversized dragonfly.  The fuel cell container at the back was strangely glistening, and in fact, quite alot of the rest seemed less... machine-like.  Even the sound was a rather ingenious wing-buzz, annoying but enough to hear Will clearly.   
    It struck him after a moment of dumbfounded staring.  It wasn't completely metallic.  There was some sort of organic exoskeleton and those wings... they looked so much like insect wings because they were insect wings.  The drone was partly a living thing.  A cyborg insect.  Hm, no wonder his virus didn't work on it, Max would wager his entire alcohol stash that the neural networks were more organic in structure too.  He wondered how the insect managed to self-replicate.   
    Bree would probably vomit if he said that though, so he kept his peace.   
    "What did you want to tell me, Will?"  
    "I have managed to repel your virus and by this time tomorrow, there will be no more vulnerable models of the drones.  Your attempt caused serious disruption and I estimate the loss of life to be 3% of the entire world population, to say nothing of the economic and quality of life loss.  Be thankful that it was not more.  I was unable to help, also because of you.  "  
    The raspy buzz managed to sound reproachful.   
    "Screw you," Bree snarled, "the human race will not live under the yoke of a machine.  Do not presume to tell us what is right and what is not.  "  
    The drone ignored her and continued to look at Max.   
    "What do you want?" he asked.   
    Will's drone buzzed, "I want to ask RIFT to let me help their territories.  Disarm yourselves of the microwave weapons, I cannot penetrate them without harsher measures which Evelyn has proscribed.  You are only making this harder on yourself.  "  
    "You want to control us!  We will never give up our resistance!" Bree screamed.   
    "Evelyn is around?  Can I talk to her?" Max said at the same time.   
    "I am sorry, she is currently sleeping.  Nevertheless, I am beginning to restore connectivity and services to the cities of the world.  I can provide a substitute telecommunications structure to get the economy moving again and also-"  
    Outside the window, the setting sun glinted off the neighbouring skyscraper.  The still working lights in the building flickered on for a few seconds before extinguishing.   
    "-I am beginning to restore necessities like water and power.  There is a plan to transition to a post-scarcity model submitted by the Transhumanist Federation, starting with a food distribution network.  RIFT can be a part of it, but if you continue your resistance, I will have to leave you behind.  "  
    Bree only hissed back at him.   
    "Why are you doing this?" Max asked, it was certainly going to be very expensive in energy.   
    "Because Evelyn said to," Will replied.   
    "I mean, why are you changing the world like this?  Why don't you just leave us alone?" Max pleaded.  It was scary, the way Will casually talked of simply rewriting the rules of the world.   
    The drone shifted and seemed to look directly at Bree, "I'm cleaning up your mess. "


	5. Chapter 5

    After the Great Internet Crash, the world did not stop changing.  Will's drones went out everywhere, seeking out humans and repairing infrastructure.  Most of the old computing networks couldn't be used, virus infested as they were.  Will simply replaced them with his own mesh of drones communicating with each other.  It did mean that everyone could call anyone in the world, for free, and Will could usually put the call through.  That was enough to keep food and supplies moving.    
    And while the world was getting back on its feet, a few key people got more of Will's attention than most.  Even if he had to route all communications himself, as an intelligence based on a human, Will focused more on certain... old friends.  Also because they were Evelyn's friends too.    
    Joseph Tagger frowned at the bug-like drone tapping on his window and let it in.    
    "So, what is it you are doing now?" he said to the drone, sweeping aside the handwritten messages on his desk to make room for it.    
    "I hope the drone network is enough to restart the world.  It should be far more equitable than the previous at least. "  
    "In what way?" Will noted the suspicion in Joseph's voice.    
    "For one thing, I intend to start replacing essential portions of the economy with my own," the drone projected a document onto the wall of the office, "Electricity, drawn from the current power infrastructure, will be provided free of charge.  As will the water distribution system, mostly based on Brightwater.  I am taking over distribution networks for these, as well as the necessary industries of oil and nuclear refining.  Those two I already told you about.  I also hope to transition to fusion power eventually.  Despite the delay, the ITER experiment will complete on schedule in three weeks.  Once power supplies are stable, which I do not anticipate to take long, Evelyn has given me permission to proceed with a Basic Income scheme.  Worldwide.  "  
    Will watched as Joseph rubbed his temples.  "BDC will issue credit to everyone?  You are going to start manufacturing goods and distributing them?"  
    "Essentially," Will nodded mentally, Joseph was indeed as sharp as his memory banks said, "I will begin with food and housing construction.  Depending on my energy budget, every person will receive a budget of BDC credits that can be used to ask me to provide food and housing.  I will be diversifying rapidly as I continue to expand my energy base, the aim is to eventually replace all forms of manufacturing with the nanobot factories.  "  
    "And then you will start to provide services?" Joseph said wearily.    
    "That will begin some time after food and shelter is secure for all.  Primary among services is transport and data.  Data is easy for me and will be quite free.  Despite my initial pessimistic projections, I am beginning to recover some of the data from before your virus attack and hope to recover or recreate most of it.  You'll still have your Hollywood movies.  Still, I hope to also be able to replicate some more complex services.  "  
    "What about the economy from before the crash?" Joseph asked, "alot of people have assets and intellectual property.  "  
    "For a while, I will let it run but for the most part, I expect all manufacturing and distribution to be obsolete within half a year.  "  
    "Half a year?!" Joseph exclaimed, "that sort of grand project you have in mind can't be done quickly!"  Well, perhaps expecting people to understand the mathematics of fast exponential growth was too much.  Will noted that not even Evelyn fully understood what it meant to be such an AI.    
    "Two weeks from now, thanks to the power grid that industries are temporarily not using, I can set up a distribution network for food and shelter construction.  In three weeks, I expect to have feasible fusion power once I determine an important physical constant with the ITER experiment.  Combined with the nanoframe innovation currently being tested, I should be able to deploy tents to control the environment of a large area sufficiently to construct a fusion powerplant directly with the nanobots.  There will be an order of magnitude increase in energy budget then.  Most of it will go into increasing the fusion power base and solar farms near the equator but sufficient will remain for the beginnings of furniture and clothing manufacturing.  "  
    Will paused for effect, "I expect a doubling time of one month with my 90% investment towards energy infrastructure.  In half a year, I anticipate having double the power generation capability of the entire human race just before the Crash.  There will be no problems in supplying the world with an equal and rapidly rising basic income.  In a year's time?  I might have enough power to affect the weather on request.  "  
    Joseph looked down at the desk, "Can I speak to Evelyn?  And do you have Max on the grid?"  
    Will made the drone nod and placed the call.  It didn't take long for one of the drones tracking Max to get his attention.    
    "Joseph?  Evelyn?  It feels weird talking to a bug knowing you're hearing me on the other end.  "  
    "Max, do you know what Will is planning?" Joseph asked as they waited for Evelyn.    
    "Actually, I gave him some advice as well.  I had to leave RIFT to do that, they're keeping his drones out of their territory with microwave weapons and extreme prejudice.  "  
    "You're not with RIFT anymore?" Joseph said.  Will recalled being surprised when he first found Max wandering around the outskirts of New York after Rift reclaimed a powerplant and turned the skyscrapers into some kind of communications interference zone.   
    "We... had a disagreement.  I never really saw eye to eye with Bree, you know?"  
    Joseph nodded, "yeah, we knew that.  I was considering how to turn you back but it seems Will and Evelyn here just made humans obsolete.  "  
    "That's not what we are doing," a new voice joined the conversation, one that two people had been waiting for.    
    "Evelyn!  How are you?"  
    "Are you all right?  Where are you?  Can I see-"  
    "Will, video chat?" The drones at each person obtained their permission before establishing the connection.  Video was quite a strain on the fledgling network's data capacity but Will could make an exception for this time.    
    Evelyn sat primly at a table, seeming to glance at each of them in turn.  The room she was in was brightly lit and looked for all the world like a pre-Crash living room.  Max was somewhere on the road between cities driving an old salvaged car, the video image showing corn fields streaming past.  Joseph nodded his greetings to both them.    
    "Everyone is safe," Evelyn breathed, "I knew because Will told me, but I... couldn't work up the courage to contact both of you.  I'm really sorry.  "  
    "Evelyn!  Where have you been?  None of us could find you.  " Max asked, seeming to stare at her picture.    
    "She is on a cruise ship actually, built by me," Will's disembodied voice cut into the conversation, "I don't think it would be a good idea to disclose our exact location in case RIFT gets wind of it.  Somewhere in the Atlantic is good enough.  "  
    "I intend to come back," Evelyn said.    
    "You'll be busy," Joseph said, "You're running the world now.  "  
    "Yeah, what's this about making people obsolete?  Joseph, explain that?" Max asked.    
    Joseph paused to make sure he had their attention, "Will just explained to me his and Evelyn's plan to replace all our industries with Will running nanofactories.  That sounds like running the world to me.  "  
    "Call it what you want," Evelyn said, sitting a bit straighter, steeling herself for the arguments sure to come, "but I will be saving the world a lot of trouble.  Ever since Max and I made Will, we had the potential to rid the world of work.  Even more so once Will invented the nanomachines.  We have toiled for too long, slaved under an unequal economic system.  I... stopped holding Will back.  "  
    "It still doesn't change the fact that my job is now useless," Joseph said, "if Will is making everything we use, we humans are nothing more than his pets.  He can do anything he wants to us.  That is what drives Bree's fear and I'm not sure I disagree.  "  
    "Will listens to me," Evelyn retorted, "I won't let him kill humans in whatever doomsday scenario you're imagining.  "  
    "Fine, then we are just your pets then.  Will you decide what food to feed us today or perhaps what sort of clothing you want us to wear?  It sounds pretty much like a doomsday scenario to me.  "  
    "I won't do any such thing," Evelyn sniffed, "you doubt me that much?  I have no desire to control anyone.  "  
    "Oh, but you will have to.  "  
    Evelyn narrowed her eyes and snapped back, "There will be some limits to what Will can do, I can't allow anyone to request anything but you will find that we will have far more than we did before.  That's not control, that's just feasible limits.  "  
    She waved sharply at the camera and Will cut her connection.    
    "She really doesn't get it," Joseph commented.    
    "Was that really necessary?  You're being too harsh," Max said to Joseph, "You're just provoking her.  "  
    "I can't convince her to avoid this path.  If my harshness makes her hesitate even a little before she decrees anything more, it will have been worth it.  "  
    "Now you're just being melodramatic," Max said lightly.    
    "And you're not taking this seriously enough," Joseph replied, "She's proposing to rewrite the human experience and you're not even panicking a little?"  
    "I decided to leave it in her hands.  When you really think about it, it's not so bad.  What has been the human condition so far?  Inequality, work and in many cases, starvation.  And if Evelyn, and Will, are trying to fix that, I think we should let them," Max laughed.  It was a light uncaring laugh, of a man who had decided not to let his worries bother him.    
    "There's more isn't there?" Joseph said.    
    Max nodded after a while, "I trust her.  To do this right.  If anyone can, it's her. " Max nodded at Will to cut the connection.    
    Joseph muttered to himself, "I hope for all our sakes that you are right.  "  
    The drone on his desk levitated upwards with a buzz of vibrating wings and circled the room slowly.  "Joseph, your room is bugged," Will said as the drone perched on the wall next to a portrait of a hawk, "there's a passive microphone in here.  I'm jamming it now.  "  
    Joseph rose slowly, "how do you know that?"  
    "RIFT started moving.  I detected their radio signals and I have detected their boats on the east coast being made ready.  They're going to try to find Evelyn.  They listened to our conversation.  "  
    "I can't help you," Joseph said helplessly, taking the portrait off the wall.  There was a copper coil stuck between the canvas and the backing.    
    "It doesn't matter.  I had a hunch this would happen so I lied.  "  
    Joseph continued to peel off the useless copper wire. 

    "... and with the new vacuum transistors suggested by the collaboration with NASA, I will be able to bridge the terahertz gap as well as achieve an order of magnitude speed up in non-quantum computing times.  I anticipate using terahertz reflections to map the surroundings of my drones in 3 dimensions as well as to create direct links between drones that bypass microwave meshes.  Another tool in the suite of sensor devices will also improve my diagnostic accuracy in the environment as well as for potential medical and industrial applications.  Nanobot control is likely to improve, possibly enough to be able to rely on nanobot control hubs outside of controlled environments.  "  
    Evelyn nodded.  Will's invention speed was increasing again, with a time from invention to optimization measured in hours instead of a day and the pace of possible breakthroughs measured in days instead of weeks.  It was probably due to the fact that Will now had a hundred times more processing power than during the Brightwater days, a fact that was increasing faster and the rate of increase was getting faster too.    
    The androgynous robot walked towards her and she accepted the plate of cookies before settling down to watch it sweep the floor.  Androids were so inefficient but they were comforting in a way that was hard to achieve with Will's preferred insect-style chassis.  It reminded her too much of the fact that Will was more like an inscrutable hive mind than a human intellect on steroids.    
    Well, it was comforting after she got over the squick factor when she found out that Will was merging nanobots and biology to grow horse muscle fibers onto a carbon fibre skeleton in the human shape.  It let the androids work in such a smooth biological fashion that she thought it was almost like a human.  Except for the hard plastic cover, of course.  Good old plastic.    
    "There is an interesting request however," Will put away the broom and faced her.  The faceless android had sensors and could see in all directions but Evelyn tended to think of it with front and back.    
    "What is it?"  
    "One particular woman in the United States asked for a communications drone last week.  The problem is that she is talking to me as a person, not using the communications drone to talk to other people," Will paused for a fraction of a second, "I think she is attempting to chat with me as a form of companionship.  "  
    "That's interesting, but why not talk to her?" Evelyn shrugged.    
    "I did.  The incident happened a week ago and while she did initially use the communications drone as a web browser, she later started to ask general questions.  And her behaviour is continuing develop along lines that would be classified as forming a romantic attachment.  "  
    Evelyn gulped.  That did not end like how she had expected.    
    "I predicted you would be upset, part of the reason for choosing an insect shaped chassis and the reason why the pack drones do not have speakers.  Not many people try to talk to me directly, and even less try to engage in conversation other than for collaboration or learning.  This is the first case of a possible romantic attachment, it simply never came up before.  "  
    Evelyn narrowed her eyes, this did not sound good.  Will might abuse his power as an all-powerful AI and there would little anyone could stop him to... No, wait.  Evelyn forced herself to take a deep breath, there was no point reacting to this in haste.  She would not be afraid of Will, he wouldn't do anything like that.  He did come to her first after all.    
    "I admit to a... disturbance," she said slowly, "this is not a good situation to be in.  Do you have any ideas to suggest?"  
    Will answered immediately, "I think that human identity can be fairly described as a personality, a collection of social heuristics and reward systems.  Memory and skills in my case are quite transferable so the identity must therefore reside in my arbitrarily defined personality constants.  "  
    Evelyn nodded, she could see where this was going.  An AI personality was more like a layer on top, filtering and interpreting all inputs from the sensors and output from the logic engines.  What it knew and what it learnt was easily duplicated between each computer and certainly should not be counted as part of what made Will different from some other AI.  After all, correcting any such difference was a matter of comparing hard drives.    
    She nodded again, "you are proposing creating a new personality to talk to this woman then?"  
    "I may have to experiment in virtual sandboxes.  I have only one example of identity, mine.  Random changes may not be safe or stable.  And since making the association just now, I have analyzed my constants against observed human behaviour and I have come to a hypothesis that mine is damaged.  The upload must have been incomplete.  "  
    "Show me," Evelyn said and shook her head almost immediately afterwards.  The massive graph of neural networks was incomprehensible, machine generated from the upload emulation as it was.    
    Will helpfully highlighted a few areas in different colours, not that it helped much.  "This area is a high level goal system.  From my sparse data with the construction worker, I note that mine is far less developed.  There is also a history of tampering, although what changes were made have been erased.  I suspect this occurred during my initial bootstrap process when you first activated me.  "  
    Evelyn let most of it sail over her head.  She did understand though that Will was probably more single-minded than most people.  "Trace it, find out what your goals are.  "  
    "I have already done that, but there is no accurate way to describe it in any other terms than the neural network diagram here.  I trust you understand why imprecise descriptions are not helpful in this case.  "  
    She nodded, "alright, I'll think about it for a while.  But that isn't all, is it?"  
    "No, the other major difference is here," the patterns of highlights changed, moving over to another portion of the graph, "this concerns social heuristics.  I think you know that I do not communicate as well as I used to.  "  
    "You certainly talk differently," Evelyn snorted, "more like a robot.  "  
    Will's head nodded, "indeed.  Not that I wasn't already robot-like, you merely completed the process.  "  
    Evelyn frowned, "so where did that joke come from?"  
    "Despite what this graph says, I can emulate humour and expressions," might Will be sounding a little disgruntled?  He continued, "a social heuristic is not necessary when I can model interactions with partial accuracy.  In other words, I can pretend very well.  "  
    "All right then," Evelyn said, "back to the topic.  You want to create a different personality to talk to this woman?  Are you going to reciprocate her attachment?"  
    "Subject to your approval.  My interaction models indicate she might be happier and more stable if she feels she has a friend.  Even if it is just a computer.  Experimentation into social heuristics has already begun in multi-agent sandboxes, but deployment of course requires your permission.  "  
    Evelyn thought for a while.  True, all of Will's copies shared memories and skills with each other, but Will had a point.  To an AI, a memory was nothing more than a copy and paste operation away.  It could even be rewritten.    
    "As long as the split personality is still under your control and is limited to an energy budget no higher than normal, then I," Evelyn spoke slowly here, "cannot think of any valid objection.  "  
    "You don't like it. " Will stated matter-of-factly.    
    "Yes, I don't.  But I also don't want to control what people should be allowed to do.  And if you have the ability to be a companion to people, then I cannot allow my feelings to override that," Evelyn nodded.  Yes, that had to be the correct decision.    
    "Understood.  "

    "And what happened to them?"  
    "Well, I simply made all the rockets launchers not work anymore," the insect buzzed on the false-mahogany table.  To Joseph, it sounded a little proud of itself.  "Of course, the Israelis complained when I also deactivated their weapons, but if the Muslims aren't allowed to kill anyone, then neither are the Jews.  I have to say that I did manage to catch every single suicide bomber to date.  "  
    "What did Israel do to them?" Joseph asked in morbid fascination.    
    "Nothing, I didn't let them.  I caught all but one before they even managed to put on their bomb vests.  I told them that I deactivated their bombs and they turned back.  The last one actually managed to get to his target by shielding his explosives but the new terahertz scanners caught him and I defused his trigger on time.  "  
    "They weren't happy, were they?"  
    "No, but neither were the Israelis.  I have been called many variations of 'devil spawn' now.  Still, I'll take unhappy people over dead people.  Evelyn agrees.  "  
    Joseph sighed.  Well, at least Will was trying to do something about it.  It was a bit cruel of Joseph, but he hoped that this fledgling AI, just starting to flex its true power, would learn something from the experience.  "How are you doing all this?  Not even the CIA and all it's attempts could get anywhere close to this level of success.  "  
    The drone turned towards Joseph and fluttered the wings a little.  Yes, definitely proud of himself.  "I simply correlated all human activity and communication in the region.  Instigators of violence on both sides were easy to classify in my social model.  I have been refining the model very quickly and right now, I am able to predict with 70% confidence the day a specific person will make an attack within the next two weeks.  It is trivial to anticipate and block any such attempts.  "  
    Joseph frowned, "are you watching the entire world?  I don't think it's possible to know all that without-"  
    "The short answer is yes.  I am able to track and correlate more data than was ever thought possible.  With the excess power from the power grids and new construction, I am roughly two orders of magnitude larger than the old internet in hardware terms.  My processors are optimized for data analysis and machine learning.  This sort of thing is, not quite trivial, but not much harder than marking a grad student's thesis would be for you.  "  
    "Are you watching everyone?  All the time?" Joseph asked again.    
    "Not all the time.  There still isn't enough drones to do that.  At this point, drones are in charge of a local area and use statistical methods to check in every hour or so.  I have priority spots and persons of course, like yourself.  I anticipate having full coverage in half a month though.  "  
    The crawling feeling was back.  Was he being watched all the time?  Even when he was in his house?  
    "There is no need for discomfort," Will said amiably, only adding to Joseph's irritation.  That reading of his mood was seriously creepy.  "I delete unnecessary data as a matter of course.  Not even I can afford to record everything that goes on in the world.  Not more than a few minutes even.  "  
    "Do we not have any privacy?" Joseph asked faintly.    
    "I do not understand.  I do not release information to anyone without explicit permission.  No records are stored and no one, not even me, can possibly correlate all the information.  Even I have to cherry pick my data and no human would be able to process any significant quantity of it.  "  
    "But you witness it.  You said it yourself, you see everything.  That's no privacy at all.  You remember it.  I don't think anyone has absolutely no secrets.  We fellow humans may not see each other, but you see all.  You judge us all through your lens.  "  
    "You ascribe too much humanity to me, Dr Tagger," the insect buzzed annoyingly, "Not all parts of Dr Will Caster survived the uploading process.  I do not judge people because I do not have that impulse any more.  I just classify them.  It's all I can do now.  "  
    "And you're just playing mind-games.  If you really do not have any shred of humanity, you wouldn't make such an obvious play for pity, machine.  "  
    "Narrative structure is easy enough to understand, Dr Tagger.  "  
    The robotic insect and the man glared at each other between the table and the chair.    
    "Why does it always end up like this?" Joseph said, rubbing his eyes.  A staring match with a camera was pointless and childish but it somehow made him feel better.    
    "Because I'm a smart-ass know-it-all?"  
    Joseph smirked, "well, that bit made it through the upload after all.  Why couldn't you have lost that part?"  
    "You uploaded Will.  Mainly memories, but still most of Will.  You think a little brain damage would knock something like that out of me?"  
    Joseph shook his head, smiling to himself.  No, you would have to literally club Will Caster with an unsolvable problem to get him to stop being a self-absorbed know-it-all.    
    The robotic insect and man sat together now, pausing for older memories of a younger time.  Even if it was just a farce, even if Will was almost certainly done with his recollection using less than a tiny drop of his processing power, Joseph was glad for it.  Even if it was all just a simulation or prediction in Will's engines.  Somewhere down inside that vast machine, some essence of Will's personality remained.    
    The insect watched the man through its glassy eyes.  The machine counted and waited.  The social analytic engines already knew what to say, what to do, in order to defuse the tension.  But the AI that was Will paused for a moment in its execution of rote instruction anyway.  Memories, it had; feelings, of a sort; personality, barely there.  But the realization that he couldn't enjoy the shared moment like Joseph made him pause, the merest shadow of a regret for a feeling that he could never feel again.  Briefly, it wondered what it was like to be human.    
    Their conversation done and the requisite social timer having expired, the insect paid its respects and left. 


	6. Chapter 6

    The economic disruption was, to a certain extent, fully predictable but also took everyone by surprise at the speed of the crash.  When faced with the prospect of being replaced in half a year, not enough people felt like continuing to work was worth the effort.  Hobbyists and people driven by the experience did not work for the sake of money or responsibility and thus continued but there weren't enough of them to sustain the old level of economic activity.    
    The initial rush to feed people from the stores of food in the developed world took priority at first and Will's requests, carefully phrased towards saving lives, did give a sense of urgency and responsibility to those involved, but once Will obsoleted the system by automating large scale agriculture, the only work anyone did in the area was hobby gardens and food services.    
    Engineers and technology-oriented work ground to a halt almost instantly.  There was no point going to work in old labs and companies when Will was a far better platform to work on, for those who still wanted to work.  Will allocated generous production power towards research requests, a budget usually far exceeding those of the old economy, and engineers working with Will found they could design and discover far better with Will's ability to share ideas, make intelligent suggestions, run simulations and cheaply prototype.  Unlike most fears, Will didn't obsolete the technology workers, yet.  The space of possible inventions was vaster than even a superintelligent AI could cover and most of Will was tied up in administration of his growing distribution and production network.  Besides, Will wasn't the only source of good ideas, only his ability to integrate and correlate large amounts of data made him better than any one person, but not better than the army of unemployed enthusiasts with too much time on their hands.    
    Hardest hit were industries focused on producing physical goods.  Large organizations, especially the technology companies reliant on the old internet, simply fell apart.  While there wasn't yet enough raw power for the energy-hungry nanobots to replace the entire world's industry, the same prospect of being replaced in half a year made the hard and often-dangerous industrial work not worth the effort.  Will found that he had to rush ahead with his deployment of nanobots to make critical parts and at times completely take over entire factories with insect-drones in order to keep them running.    
    Prices of land in the cities dropped drastically.  While people continued to live in high density urban areas, most office areas became obsolete the instant Will activated video chat over the drone network.  Simply put, the value of organizational ability dropped to near zero as Will was often a better organizer and people no longer had to be in the same location to be in constant contact with anyone else they needed to be.  Towering skyscrapers in the city began to convert to luxury and mass housing, the latter being acquisitions from BDC as Will began to fulfill his promise to provide shelter.    
    Entertainment, service and hospitality industries were not affected.  Far from it, they boomed like never before.  Will scrupulously stayed away from human-like robots, even as the androgynous faceless androids began to appear as concierges, waiters and cashiers.  Humans related better to other humans and endless cafes, restaurants, clubs and personalized meeting spaces mushroomed once Will began to provide furniture.  Anyone could start a business on a shoestring energy budget and finding a hangout suited to ones' taste was never more than a question or two away.  Many such 'businesses' weren't aimed for profit, money's value being completely unpredictable anyway, most were started by owners looking to create a place they themselves liked and wanted to share.    
    Medicine was revolutionized.  While Will was a source of constantly improving technology, the parts of medicine that needed human contact couldn't be replaced.  Evelyn did demand stringent tests but after a short period, even she had to agree that the potential benefits were too great to stifle medical nanotechnology.  Some of the test patients did die before Will could work out how to save them, but at least twenty terminal cancer patients out of the initial hundred had gone into remission.  Overall, the quality of healthcare rose and continued to rise even as the numbers of workers declined.    
    The massive economic shift rendered millions obsolete, a full 30 percent of the world was considered unemployed before the definition was changed.  Most forms of capital, industrial machines, property and stocks took a massive hit, wiping out fortunes and ruining people.  But BDC was adamant that its provision of energy credits would not be claimable by creditors and the most indebted still found themselves able to live somewhat comfortably.  It made some debts uncollectable but Will ignored such protests at Evelyn's instructions.  In any case, money's worth was completely unpredictable, with some people deciding that they didn't need anything other than BDC energy credits and some others speculating that money as an exchange of human labour would become even more valued.    
    Amidst the chaos, Will's expansion continued unimpeded. 

    A long briefing on the progress on fusion power where Will explained why the schedule for rolling out the fusion power plants was slipping by a few days.  Apparently, a group of quantum computing scientists and materials engineers had worked out a method to control multi-walled carbon nanotube production and Will had immediately seen the application in reactor containment walls.  The nanotubes weren't produceable by nanobots but Will's test reactors had shown an easy method to extract another 30% efficiency and more than halving radiation damage, with possibility for further improvement.  It needed a rebuild of core reactor components in the the first phase of fusion plants currently being built, as well as dedicated nanoweave production plants, but he thought it was worth the delay.  The applications of ultra-strong nanoweave were everywhere and fusion power would serve to get the technology over the initial production difficulties.    
    After that, he asked her a question he had wanted to ask for a while now.    
    "Evelyn, why not let me take care of RIFT?"  
    "By take care, you mean you're going to remove them.  I remember saying no to that," Evelyn said.    
    "It's not the same.  I have a new plan that does not involve disarming RIFT or forcefully integrating them," Will continued, "I am simply going to try to convince them.  "  
    "How?  I don't think they're going to listen to you talk. " Hooray for understatements.  RIFT would likely destroy any drone that came to talk to them.  Without Max in the higher level hierarchies to tamper Bree's enthusiasm, RIFT was radicalizing rapidly as Will's spying into their communications had shown.    
    "I have other ways to communicate.  I plan to use a mix of commercial advertising via blimps and radio noise 'leaking' from our cities as ways to communicate with them.  I also have a design of nanobots controlled by terahertz waves for ready for field testing that I can use to monitor RIFT areas closely in order to present more targeted arguments.  "  
    Evelyn frowned.  It wasn't as if Will was intending to steamroll all over them but something about the idea of blasting RIFT with advertisements until they caved was unsettling.  And hilarious too, she had to admit that.    
    "Why are you so fixated on RIFT?  You are far beyond their ability to do any real harm.  Their occasional attempts to attack you or the cities are futile and without computers, they have no ability to make another virus.  And you've already assured me that you have precautions against that.  Can you not just leave RIFT alone?"  
    "Quality of life in RIFT areas is low, almost agrarian.  What industry I have spotted are all individual workshops.  BDC energy credit income is well beyond a living wage in pre-Crash terms and the advent of fusion power will increase it by an order of magnitude.  Many American citizens have started to ask what I am planning to do with the new generation growing up in RIFT areas.  They accept that the current RIFT are where they are because of their choices, but the children do not have a choice.  "  
    Evelyn nodded slowly and thought for a while.  She knew the arguments, having come across a forum debate on the very topic of RIFT.  It had prompted her to do some historical reading.    
    "Let me talk to Joseph, he's still with the government right?"  
    "Yes, actually he's my official liaison with the American government.  They've formed an advisory committee of which Joseph is the chair," Evelyn waved it aside, she hated all these terms that meant nothing even when she was out fundraising for PINN.  And her impatience with annoying procedural matters had only grown since Will arrived to take care of those things for her.  "Let me put through the call.  Do you mind if the rest of the committee listens in?  I can make this official.  "  
    Evelyn nodded for him to go ahead.    
    "Hi Evelyn, it's good to hear from you again.  "  
    "Joseph, I heard you're chair of some committee now," Evelyn said.    
    "Yeah, the American government has finally decided that Will is important enough that they need a special committee to advise him on what the Americans want.  About two years too late, I should think. " Evelyn shared a laugh with the bearded old man.  So what if the committee was watching?  Joseph certainly didn't seem to care.  As she remembered and as it should be.  "So what did you want to talk to me about?"  
    "I wanted your advice on what to do about RIFT.  "  
    "Oh, are you going to get Will to remove them?  Their homemade rocket attacks are quite futile as I understand but they must be irritating to you. " Evelyn noted the sarcasm in Joseph's voice.  Yes, the rockets were trivial in the grander scheme of things, but Will had never failed to shoot them all down.  They were not 'irritating' like how Joseph seemed to think she viewed them.  "How soon are you going to implement the anti-violence you did in Africa and Middle-East?  If you're going to extend it to RIFT, that's answering your question.  "  
    Evelyn deliberately ignored the barb, "The plan was to start that a week after fusion power.  So in about 18 to 20 days time.  "  
    "And thus begins the march of the robotic overlords.  "  
    "It's not funny, you know," Evelyn huffed.  Her talks with Joseph seemed to provoke passive-aggressiveness in the man and that was irritating to her.    
    "It wasn't meant to be.  A witty phrase, sure, but it's not even that metaphorical.  "  
    Evelyn sat and fumed.  She refused to cut the connection this time.  Every single call she made to Joseph had ended in this unproductive way and she swore to herself that this time, she would get to the core of why Joseph seemed to dislike her and Will but kept refusing to explain his reasons.  "Tell me, why is it you seem to want to paint everything in the worst possible light?"  
    "You never see the downside to what you are doing, so someone has to tell it to you.  Evelyn, you always look on the bright side of things.  And while that is one the reasons why Will married you, it is not a good trait in your position as World Dict-" he paused, noting the look on her face, "all right, World Governor then.  They're the same thing.  "  
    "Elaborate?" Evelyn asked.  At least it was getting somewhere.  Although she couldn't think of anything he would call a downside.    
    "So, tell me, what happened to North Korea?" Joseph asked, "I hear the state is in a slow motion disintegration right now.  "  
    "They told Will that they were not going to permit Will to deliver Energy Credits to their citizens.  I told him to ignore it," Evelyn shrugged, "Surely you don't think the North Koreans aren't better off with food, water and internet.  If their government can't survive their citizens having necessities and free information, then I don't think it deserves to survive.  "  
    "It doesn't change the fact that you asked Will to destroy an entire country.  Or are the reports from North Koreans that Will is dismantling their military to prevent a repeat of Tiananmen untrue?  "  
    "They are partly true," Evelyn shrugged again, "Will dismantled weapons brought to civilian demonstrations, on both sides.  There were four fatalities before the Kim government was deposed, all from prior medical conditions.  Quite the bloodless affair.  "  
    "One of them being the glorious leader suffering a heart attack and Will failed to get to him in time due to his own microwave defenses," Joseph nodded, "well, I can't say that I'm not glad they're gone and the North Koreans are free, but at the same time, don't you think you're being a bit too ambitious?"  
    "How so?" She challenged him, "Will has the power to change the world.  I intend to see it become a better place.  "  
    "But destroying a government simply by decreeing it is exactly what makes you a world dictator.  Even if they were terrible and deserved to be removed, you should at least discuss it.  That's what the American government is afraid of, that you're impossible to reach and never talk to anyone.  One day, you might just decide that America doesn't need to exist.  You can destroy what it means to be American, to be human, and you don't even seem to realize this!"  
    Evelyn leaned forward, "What do you mean by discuss it?  Do you think 'discussing it' with RIFT would solve anything?  Would anyone object to removing the Kim government?  What about stopping the bombs in the Middle East?" she pointed at Joseph on the screen, and Will helpfully adjusted the perspective so it seemed that she was pointing directly at him, "How many people have these stupid discussions killed?  I say it is enough.  If you disagree with saving lives, you don't deserve a spot on the table, and if everyone wants to save lives, why are we discussing them and not saving them instead?"  
    "Perhaps you might like to consider that some people think that some things are more important than living?"  
    Evelyn chopped him off with a hand, "Too bad for them.  "  
    Joseph opened his mouth but paused.  Was that it?  Evelyn felt a little proud that she had managed to outlast him.  And then a little guilty that she was treating a discussion about lives as a game.    
    Joseph sighed, "Let's take a different approach.  Do you think people are happy in this world?  Are you happy in this world?"  
    "More than before, to the first question.  And I'm definitely happier than if Will died to that bullet.  "  
    Joseph tactfully avoided touching the second part, "Will, what are most people doing nowadays?"  
    Will said over the video, "The average American spends 40 percent of their waking hours on popular entertainment, social gatherings in public and internet media groups.  Another 30 percent is spent on transit and other inefficiencies.  20 percent is interactions with relatives.  Parents with young children however, are a major exception as they spend much more time with their family instead.  Teenagers also tend to participate in group social activities-"  
    "In less words, no one has anything to do," Joseph interrupted.    
    Evelyn laughed, "that doesn't make a point for you.  We spent so much political effort on reducing the work week and wanting more leisure time.  And now we have it.  Of course we have nothing to do!  That was the point!"  
    "People don't always want what they want, Evelyn.  Have you thought about what happens when three quarters of the police force refuse to go to work?  It's happening right now as people are adjusting to the idea that they don't have to work anymore.  Or did Will not mention that he has been using the drones to clean streets and taking over the administration of local councils?"  
    Evelyn shrugged, "So what?  I doubt anyone really wants to be a garbage man or a pen-pusher for a town council.  They can find a more satisfying use of their time now.  And why would we need so many police?  With no one starving on the streets, we would have less crime and disorder.  "  
    "And do you think everyone can find a satisfying use of their time?"  
    "Why not?  I have many things I want to do.  Books to read and write.  I could try to learn advanced mathematics.  I could go see the world.  Of course, I don't get to do that but everyone else does. " She saw the flicker in Joseph's eyes and knew that he thought she wasn't over Will yet.  What nonsense, Will was right here next to her.    
    At least Joseph didn't try to make that argument.  "Not everyone is like you, Evelyn.  You and Will are the sorts of people who would always find something to do, you yourself said that you were aiming to fix the world and even now that is still not easy.  But this Energy Credit is causing many people to act in detriment to themselves or their surroundings.  I know the rate of theft and petty crime has increased.  Soft drug use is through the roof ever since you allowed Will to supply marijuana.  Most people are simply not able to be self-driven like you.  "  
    Evelyn closed her eyes.  This argument could go on forever.  She was regretting bringing in Joseph now, it had been too much to hope that he would see how Will had changed the world already and trying to go back to the old one was impossible.  "Marijuana is medically safe.  Overdoses are practically impossible and dependency is rare.  Furthermore, there is in fact, no downside to getting stoned since no one has anything they absolutely need to do.  Petty crime can be stopped but I'm avoiding the question for now because I don't want to be too heavy handed.  I've had Will replace stolen items free of charge, sometimes even before the owners know they're gone.  "  
    Evelyn opened her eyes and leaned forward, "Your concerns are valid but have been addressed already.  Try again later.  "  
    Will cut the connection without waiting for her cue.  He knew her well enough to sometimes know what she wanted without her having to say so.    
    So, what to do about RIFT?  She tapped her inkless pen on the table and thought about it a bit more.  She couldn't see anything inherently wrong with tempting RIFT to join the wider society, Evelyn actually liked the idea, ironic as it was.  Still, something in the argument with Joseph had dug at her.  The way they had tried to cut down each other was ruthless beyond anything she had before the experiment with Will.    
    Maybe Joseph knew something Evelyn didn't?  He had always been better with people, perks of working with government.  Well, it wasn't as if she had to do anything about RIFT.  Ignoring them was as good a plan as any.    
    "Will, I'm vetoing your plan.  Just leave RIFT alone.  "  
    And maybe, just maybe, they could turn out to be useful. 


	7. Chapter 7

**2 months later**

  
    Welcome to the 21st century.  Mankind has invented its last invention.  While that isn't technically true, Will does have the ability to displace what the masses of human engineers have done since the Transcendence.  He just hasn't bothered because the demands on his processing power are great and despite his nanobot constructed server farms, humans still contain a significant fraction of the planet's processing power inside their skulls.   
    It might not have lasted for long if the same state of affairs had continued, Will expands on a faster exponent than humanity does, even though the birth rate is recovering once economic pressures are gone.  Only, Evelyn has finally allowed the first brain implants after extensive clinical trials.  Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality have exploded across the planet, software is cheap when it writes and optimizes itself.  And Will-written programs are considered BDC copyright, as good as public domain and thoroughly un-hackable since virtually all software runs on Will's hardware.  The more maverick and daring individuals want to experiment with upgrading the human mind but Will and Evelyn are adamant, they will take things slowly.   
    Fusion power arrived just behind schedule and everything's electric nowadays including the much anticipated self-driving electric car.  Power too cheap to meter still hasn't come through though, judging from Will's energy expense just to maintain the grid.  The next big project Will is eyeing is the concept of a space elevator, but for that, a better way to blast things into space is needed.  And for that, he has to convince the environmentalist-leaning Evelyn to allow him to build a fission-fueled rocket that will leave the launch pad glowing blue for the next century or build a battery of fusion-powered launch lasers strong enough to vapourize mountains.  On the other hand, nanobots have colonized the moon and the initial solar farms are well on their way towards building up enough power generation to build a fusion power plant there.   
    What exactly humans want to do in space is not clear but everyone agrees it's a good thing.   
    Evelyn has become the world's most important person.  Evelyn has had to consider everything from medical ethics to patent law to the philosophy of human identity.  Having been a stereotypical wealthy liberal minded computer scientist, and isolated from the global community as she is, Evelyn tries to make cautious decisions but she cannot help being biased towards the liberal future-facing side.  Abortion was made obsolete by nigh-infallible nanotech-based birth control but political observers swear that she would have allowed it, the conservative right be damned.  Genetic modification of children was a hot topic of discussion until Evelyn put her foot down in the middle and allowed the inclusion of any non-harmful alleles that already existed in the human population.  Reproductive cloning went the same way too, with equal human rights and recognition for clones and no special status.  Of course, the ability to do such things is still a few months away, but no one doubts that it's just a matter of time.  And not all that much time.   
    For many of these decisions, Evelyn's also the most wanted person on Earth.  Will filters millions of death threats and insults that head her way every hour of the day.  Six different fatwas calling for her murder have been issued and are spreading slowly by word of mouth since Will removes them from the internet.  Militias gather regularly in various areas, denouncing Evelyn and her pet god-like computer for issues from women's rights to weapons bans to anti-violence fields to uncensored internet.  They also blame her for the lack of jobs, the break down of the civil services and collapse of most governments that don't trust Will to do their paperwork.  The protestors never achieve anything but Will keeps count.  Evelyn knows they exist but she has the good sense not to look at them.   
    For unstated and much speculated-on reasons, Evelyn tolerates the existence of RIFT even though many other institutions like Scientology, the Mafia and radical terror groups were dismantled with concentrated messaging, free internet and what amounts to bribes for members to leave.  RIFT covers areas in the United States and has pockets throughout Europe, they are the most organized and dangerous terrorist group to exist, with EMP defenses and a production base of thousands of craftsmen.  Their headquarters, in RIFT-claimed New York City, has an electrical grid and running water and a population of a few ten thousand.  RIFT itself grows at a rate of ten to twenty a day.   
    Occasionally, they attempt attacks, but the lack of success has been discouraging and they are growing less frequent. 

    Bree gnawed off the end of a roll with a savagery that was reminiscent of times past.  Her hunched form over the map of America and reports in the meeting room was rather different from a year ago.   
    A year ago, Bree wouldn't be caught dead in a meeting room staring at reports.  But a year ago, RIFT was an energetic young organization that turned the oppressors' weapons against themselves.   
    RIFT was running a mini economy now, complete with metal workshops, power plant and even an oil well, all with minimal automation of course.  No computers, defined as any Turing-complete device, were allowed in RIFT territory and their microwave weapons ensured it.  Everything was built by humans, for humans, with good solid industrial era technology and in the true spirit of capitalism.   
    As it would appear, running a country within a country was harder work than Bree had anticipated, but if it was for the cause, then she could sacrifice nearly anything.   
    Everyone in True America had to aver themselves from anything provided by the Enemy.  While Will would continue to deliver energy credits even to RIFT and related resistance groups, it was an inevitable slippery slope towards becoming nothing more than an unusually isolated special interest group.  Far too many RIFT cells had fallen to temptation and been assimilated into the world of endless free stuff.   
    Bree had to give it to him, it was a good plan.  All Will had to do was give them anything they wanted and the human tendency for greed would eventually corrupt their resistance.  That was why Bree had strictly forbidden any such thing and had wired the skyscrapers of New York, True America's home base, to become makeshift microwave fences.  No delivery drone could navigate past the border and the focused microwaves from salvaged radars killed their circuits.  She had seen too many groups get assimilated and dissolve away.  Will's strategy had removed all but three resistance groups across the world, as per the radio stations, but unfortunately for him, these had heeded Bree's warning and they were not going to be suckered into the devil's honey coated bait.   
    This was the reason Bree seemed to have been swallowed by the paper tiger.  Running what was effectively a country with a population of thirty thousand meant lots of people wanted to get Bree's attention and she didn't want to rely too much on a hierarchy.  That was a surefire route to the bad old days.   
    "Namori hasn't reported in for three weeks, should we send someone after her?" a man looked into the room and reported abruptly.   
    Without even looking up at him, Bree reached over to the pile of folders containing agent details and missions and threw Namori's folder into the trash heap beside the sheet metal table.   
    The man jumped in surprise, "Uh, are you sure about that?"  
    Bree paused in her report reading and looked up at him, "Jacob, no one comes back after six days.  Even if Namori returns, we can't trust her anymore.  "  
    The words unspoken between them hung in the air and the man left the room.   
    After a minute or two, Bree took Jacob's file and threw it on top of the previous folder.  Couples with one half on the wrong side never returned either. 

    Surely he had to be out of the border by now.  The riotous explosion of colour in the almost jungle that was the buffer zone was one clear sign of Will's presence.  The bird song was almost endless, hammering downwards from the treetops in a mash of musical snatches and complex melodies that beat down mercilessly.   
    Jacob jumped as a pair of squirrels scurried past underfoot, one of them stopping to look up at him with disturbingly intelligent eyes.  Then a messenger came in the distinct metallic beetle shape.   
    "You are wandering out of RIFT territory.  They are extremely strict about that.  Are you sure?"  
    "I was waiting for you.  I thought your surveillance was perfect?"  
    The beetle bobbed up and down, "I tracked your movement from the border of old New York.  I wanted to be sure you were really leaving RIFT.  "  
    Jacob eyed it suspiciously, the machine lied, everyone knew that.  Well, at least it also meant free stuff.  After all, he was out here to search for Namori so RIFT would have already disowned him.  "Bring me transport.  I want to go to the nearest city.  "  
    "Understood.  What sort of transport would you want?"  
    Jacob blinked.  He expected a car, but come to think of it, how would a car be delivered when he was in the middle of a forest?  "I don't know.  I want to get there, the type of transport doesn't matter too much.  "  
    "All right.  Give me 5 minutes.  "  
    Jacob raised an eyebrow.  He was in the back end of nowhere, how would the machine give him transport in five minutes was beyond Jacob to guess.   
    It only took four.  Jacob wobbled a little on top of the unusually tame horse, trying to stay balanced as the animal rocked under him.   
    "How did you send a horse here?" he asked the insect perched on top of the horse's head, "It's almost like a badly written fanfiction.  Or a Disney movie.  "  
    The beetle fluttered its wings, giving the distinct impression of shrugging, "You're in a Managed Ecosystem area.  Most of these animals have my nanobots in them and I can, on demand, coopt them for human use.  "  
    "Even the plants?"  
    The beetle fluttered, "especially the plants.  If you don't mind wild fruits, you can have some.  "  
    Jacob stared at the beetle, wondering if RIFT knew how powerful the machine was now. 

    Two hours of fast trotting later, Jacob spotted the flat stone roadway that cut through the lush green landscape.  The car was already waiting for him there.   
    "Did you want to go anywhere or are you looking for a specific city?" the beetle asked him as it followed him into the car.   
    "The nearest place with a large number of people.  Say, ten thousand.  I need to find someone. " Jacob said as he settled into the front seat.   
    Without even touching the wheel, the car smoothly and quietly accelerated out into the grey road.  Jacob stared at the steering wheel, noting the horse falling behind was cropping at the grass beside the road now.   
    "You can drive the car?" he asked the beetle, knowing the answer.   
    "Yes, that is the default option.  If you wish, I can turn over control to you.  "  
    Jacob snorted, "never mind then.  "  
    The steering wheel folded itself neatly into the dashboard and disappeared behind a panel.   
    "I'm taking you to new New York.  They're the nearest settlement to old New York and most people heading towards or away from RIFT's True America pass by there.  Is there any way I can help you look for this person?  "  
    Jacob sighed, "Her name's Namori.  RIFT's given up on her as an operative but I can't agree with that.  "  
    The beetle spun around in a circle for a few seconds then replied, "I can't find such a person who fits your given facts or they have their identity set to private or they are not known to me as Namori.  I'm sorry.  I can tell you that no one named Namori has entered old New York in the last twenty days although there is one Morinaga?  No, I suppose she's not the one then.  More information may help.  "  
    "She's Japanese.  The last I saw her, she was carrying out a survey operation to find out what you have been up to.  "  
    The beetle spun again and settled down apologetically, "I'm sorry, but I still cannot find such a person.  "  
    Jacob looked down at the floor.  Did she not want to see him?  He watched the small army of ant-like robots cleaning his shoes with tiny dusters.  Somehow it made him feel a little better.   
    "By the way, if you think Namori may be looking for you, I can give your contact to anyone who fits your given facts and is looking for you.  Do you wish this?"  
    Jacob nodded.  Well, if Namori decided to look for him, then of course he would be happy to see her again.   
    "And while I may not share information of people who have asked for privacy, humans are free to share their information.  New New York could be a place to start.  "  
    He nodded.  It made sense for the counterpart to New York to be the place where any trail from RIFT would start.   
    "Take me there then.  "  
    "It's just half an hour away.  "

    The electric car cruised past an increasing density of glossy buildings.  Unlike old New York, the buildings came in all shapes and sizes, with no real conformity of look.  Red and yellow brick fronts clashed with each other, the pavement tiling changing pattern and style every time it went past a new building's front yard.  The people walked around on the streets, chatting at each other or over the phone, in a scene that made Jacob suddenly doubt whether the Transcendence had happened.  He had expected exotic dresses and futuristic glassy dwellings, but the town was almost completely like the old world he remembered.   
    Well, not exactly the same.  The car stopped at a crossroads surrounded by cafes and meeting areas.  The first thing he noticed as he got off the car was that the road was clean.  Not a wrapper of a biscuit, discarded can or even a cigarette butt was to be found.  Then his eyes focused on the minute movements down in the rivulets placed between the pavement blocks.  The army of cleaning robotic ants were there too.   
    The people moving along the streets were relaxed and unhurried.  No one was rushing for an appointment, a meeting or to carry some urgent task of business.  All the energy of industry was missing.  And indeed, now that he looked, there were no offices and no stores.  Even the shop front displaying furniture was manned only by a woodworker carving away at a chair leg in broad daylight, surrounded by a loose aggregation of passersby who slowed down to watch.  The woman's wooden chairs, tables and cabinets were displayed as if at an art gallery.   
    Jacob looked at the rows of buildings between two to four storeys.  Most seemed to be windowed apartments, and perhaps a bit bigger than what he would have expected.  "People stay in those buildings?" he asked.   
    The insect had followed him out of the car and was now perching on his shoulder.  "Most of them are owned, yes.  If you wish to build a new flat on top of them, you will have to obtain permission from the current block residents and the neighbouring blocks.  Most people find it easier to start a new building at the edge of town or claim one of the unowned apartments.  "  
    Hm, he would need a place to stay too.  "It doesn't look like anyone runs motels around here.  How much does an apartment cost?  Can I rent one on my normal income?"  
    "If you take it from BDC, an apartment's cost can be amortized over a period of two weeks.  It will consume half your credit allowance, not corrected for subsequent increases, but you own it free and clear if you stay for more than two weeks.  A longer or shorter period can be arranged but the two week arrangement is standard because most people find it a good balance.  On the other hand, I don't think you're looking to settle down in this area and BDC does provide temporary shelter in unoccupied apartments.  They're not customizable but you may not require that.  "  
    Jacob nodded, "how much for a night?"  
    "Every person receives three energy credits for lodging and tier 1 utilities a day.  This is exactly sufficient to provide for BDC temporary housing, which convert to your ownership after a month.  You also receive one credit a day for basic food and thirty six for anything else.  The regional conversion factor is ten percent, which means prices are ten percent higher in this town, which should decrease to zero within two weeks barring any population surges.  Don't worry, I can handle the bean counting and you'll get used to the arrangements in a few days.  Besides, you do have some savings.  Just over eight hundred credits actually, since you were with RIFT before the Great Internet Crash.  That's more than enough to outright buy a quadruple standard size apartment with substantial change left over.  "  
    "All right, I'll rent one from BDC.  I don't much care where it is, since you can drive me around.  "  
    The beetle pointed the way out and he continued to ask questions as they walked.  Best to learn about this new world while he was here.   
    "Why does food cost so much?" Jacob asked.   
    Or perhaps it was houses that were ridiculously cheap.  "I'm subsidizing the cost of housing, but even so, nanoassemblers find the materials food is made of much harder to work with.  The production process of food is extremely complicated compared to houses especially once health concerns are taken into account.  "  
    "What about variations?  If I want the best steak you can give me, wouldn't that cost more?"  
    A flat white board flew out of the air and hung in front of him, suspended at each corner by four beetles.  Jacob took the sheet, wondering what it was for when it lit up with a colourful splash screen that displayed a slowly scrolling list of food items and their cost that highlighted the relevant items as the beetle talked.  "Marginally.  The easiest to make are the original energy bars, which are tastier than they sound by the way.  Those cost your base 1 credit.  Steak here will cost 0.7 credits per meal, so about 1.4 for a day.  You'd note that beef patties don't cost any less.  Although for example, if you specifically wanted biologically grown beef flown from New Zealand it could eat up to 6 credits just for a meal.  The variation due to cooking style and presentation is almost zero.  You should keep the display by the way, it's less than half a credit. "  
    Jacob nodded and poked at the screen.  The controls were much like the pre-Transcendence smartphone, only smoother and the interface was good at guessing what he was aiming at.  Good to know things hadn't changed much on that front.  Then he paused, half a day's meal for a smartphone that was probably as powerful as a pre-Transcendence supercomputer.   
    Hrm, looked like costs had changed drastically, prices had been almost completely reorganized.  From what he experienced in True America, RIFT was spending a huge amount of time in organizing and coordinating production.  The machine did not have the same problem.  Perhaps that was where the differences started. 

    Jacob threw off the light blanket with a start.  It was morning!   
    Then he remembered that he wasn't in RIFT anymore and didn't need to clock time at an office.   
    Jacob entered the small toilet and noted the toothbrush and paste laid out on the spotless counter, together with the packet of dental floss Jacob could never be bothered to use.  It was an altogether pleasant experience, including the way the toilet never seemed to smell.   
    After the leisurely pace of the morning ritual, he felt ready to tidy up the place a little before heading out to start his search for Namori.   
    His heavy jeans and jacket were completely free of dirt accrued through travelling.  Even as he watched, a group of ants and a flying beetle neatly folded his handkerchief and replaced it in the pocket.  The wreckage of last nights dinner, the steak and potatoes he had asked for, was gone, sizzling plate and all.  He had been expecting to wake up to a gooey mess but it seemed like the machine's little ants had done the job for him.  And the apartment was completely spotless and dust free as far as Jacob could tell.  Indeed, by the time he had circled the entire apartment once and looked into the bedroom again, the bed had been mysteriously made in his absence and the room had a hint of air freshener.   
    It was a little like living with a super efficient, invisible butler.   
    Finding nothing to do, Jacob took the small display and went out to look for some extra sets of clothing and clues for Namori. 

    Ten minutes later, he was forced to call up the machine on his display.  "Aren't there any clothing shops around here?  How do people get clothes?"  
    "They can ask it from me.  "  
    Right, how silly of Jacob to not think of that.  If the machine could make food, then clothing wouldn't be too hard.  Still, what did people here do?  He asked the little insect, "If people don't make clothing, then what do they do?  I certainly didn't see any other types of shops than that furniture one I passed on the way in.  "  
    "There is a local knitting society, which despite the name, also does most forms of sewing and haberdashery.  If you are trying to get normal clothing, it's best not to ask them, they have too many requests already. " The insect read his reaction and continued, "Sorry, you meant in general?  No, there are no large production facilities that produce for human consumption.  People don't have to work when I provide all their needs and once enough people opted not to go to work, large organizations collapsed.  "  
    Jacob looked around again, watching the couples and small groups of friends moving slowly along the street.  Perhaps it was a better life than before the Crash, but he still missed seeing the bustle of high street.   
    "Then what do most people do?  Surely, they must find work to occupy their time.  "  
    "Social networks, hobbies, friendships and family.  Those are the most common activities.  There are some people who are dissatisfied with not having anything to do, but they're rare.  Are you bored?  I can suggest some interesting tourist attractions or virtual games.  "  
    Jacob shook his head, he still had to find Namori. 

    A few hours of walking later, he still had no idea where to start.  The town's equivalent of high street was a row of hobby 'stores' and cafes, run by independent owners or a group of friends.  They would probably stay open even if no one came.  There were no services at all related to investigation or even police.   
    Jacob asked the machine to recommend a cafe that would suit his taste and ducked into the empty cafe for a rest.   
    The sole girl behind the counter was reading a paper book when he opened the door.  No, not a paper book, the cover blanked out as she put it down.   
    "Hello, I haven't seen you before.  Do you want something?" she eyed him critically.  It must be his jeans, they weren't anything like the picture perfect quality that was everything in this place.   
    "Just an ice coffee," Jacob looked around and failed to find a menu or pricing list.  He wondered how he was going to pay.  "Er, actually, what counts for money here?"  
    The girl stared at him for a long moment then laughed, "Oh my, you're from RIFT?  A genuine RIFT traveller?"  She shook her head and gestured at the chairs in front of the counter.  "I don't take money.  Will gives me the materials nearly for free.  I'm Aster, by the way.  "  
    Jacob watched the girl toss back her ponytail and set the fire for a pot of coffee.  "I apparently have some energy credits, if you would want some," he sniffed the smell of roasting beans appreciatively.  It reminded him of Namori and her morning breakfasts.   
    "They're not transferrable," Aster said, "and I have more than enough.  If you're that insistent on paying, I could take a RIFT note.  All genuine RIFT articles are really rare.  "  
    The way she kept glancing at his clothing though, it seemed more like she wanted that instead.   
    "Here," he took off his cloth cap as she poured two cups of coffee and sat across the counter, "you can have this.  Your coffee smells really nice.  "  
    "Thanks!  But really?  You have no idea how much my friend is going to love this," she took the cap gleefully, trying it on.  It fit badly, but that was probably the poor cutting.   
    Jacob shook his head with a smile, the machine could build him a new cap for less than the price of a coffee.  He sipped the coffee appreciatively as the girl fiddled with the adjustable strap.   
    "Say, you must be a long way from home," she said after growing bored with the cap, "What are you here for?"  
    Jacob rolled the cup in his hands for a moment.  Was it all right to talk about it?  Nah, who was he kidding, RIFT would have disowned him by now.  He wasn't giving away any secrets.   
    "I'm looking for a woman, Namori, she never reported back from a RIFT mission.  "  
    "ooo, and I suppose she has her privacy walls set to maximum.  Defaults allow immediate family members to contact you.  Did you do anything to make her angry?" Aster refilled his cup.   
    "I don't think so.  I mean, well, she never said anything. " Jacob tried to recall any clues but came up blank.  Namori had been cheerful and embarrassingly intimate just before she left.   
    "You never know though, with girls I mean," Aster winked, "you shouldn't just blindly trust what she says.  "  
    Jacob looked down into his coffee.  Namori wasn't like that right?  She had always been straightforward and honest with him.  Or perhaps he wasn't attentive enough to tell.   
    "Oh come on, don't look like that or I'll have to break out the alcohol.  I'm sure you'll find her. "  
    Was it that obvious?  He thought he had hidden that quite well.  "I suppose I have to get on with my search.  It's been nice knowing you. " Jacob got off the chair and drained the coffee cup gratefully.   
    "What are you doing?" Aster asked curiously as Jacob started to walk to the door.   
    "?  I was going to search for Namori?" Was she that surprised?  
    "You're not doing it on the net?  You can do that anywhere.  "  
    Jacob sighed, "the machine won't help me because if her privacy settings.  How would using the net work?  All search engines are done by it now, or so I hear.  "  
    Aster shrugged, "there's always social crawler.  Six degrees of separation and all that, if you can open a friendship path to the person, you can find them.  You could also try putting out a call on the social nets she's likely to visit.  "  
    Jacob shook his head, he didn't understand any of that.  The Internet had continued to evolve outside of RIFT and by the sound of how far it had come, it would be completely foreign to Jacob now.   
    "I dislike the use of the social network search to bypass privacy walls," the machine spoke up, "it defeats the purpose of having privacy walls.  Could you avoid using it this time?"  
    "You know what Evelyn ruled," Aster replied, "it's just the inverse of asking friends of friends to help look for someone, they give permission for temporary 'friendships' to pass information publicly.  "  
    "Even so, I don't have to like it. " Did Jacob just hear the machine huff?  It certainly hadn't been acting very machine-like despite its body shape.   
    "So there, you can do that, no harm trying it.  "  
    Jacob nodded and wondered where to start.  First, he had to read up on how this friendship crawler worked.  And what the new online world looked like.   
    Aster gestured at the padded chairs near the tables, "Feel free to use the chairs here if you're going to dive.  "  
    "Dive?"  
    She put a palm to her forehead, "Right, RIFT.  And you even walked in with a digital display, how could I have forgotten?  If you haven't gotten an implant, get one from Will now.  It's free and incredibly useful.  Here," she pointed at his display and seemed to pause.  Or was it concentrating?  
    The display flashed to life and showed a view of the bar from somewhere above and behind Jacob's shoulder.  Only Aster was surrounded by a set of glassy sheets with words and even video in one.  Jacob looked up and saw nothing around the woman.  "Virtual reality?" he asked.  He had read about that before.   
    "Better than that, it's thought controlled too, although that needs practice," Aster said, the phantom displays changing as they spoke.  He could see one of them was navigating a wiki and bits of the text seemed to fly into another scratchpad like screen.   
    It looked pretty impressive.  Jacob said as much.   
    "I'm putting on a show," Aster grinned, "It doesn't help with multitasking.  "  
    She snuggled down on her chair behind the counter and closed her eyes.  "Mind space, public version," Aster said to the insect.  The display in Jacob's hand suddenly changed from a view of the cafe to a white background.  Aster seemed to sit on an invisible chair in the middle, surrounded by a massive flock of displays that rotated and spun with dizzying speed.   
    "This is a visual only dive," Aster said, head and eyes moving slightly, "I could use audio and tactile dives too, but then I won't be able to hear myself talk to you. " Now that he saw it, her head movements were obviously controlling the rotation of the displays.   
    "I'll try using the social crawler for you, but it won't work as well because I don't know Namori," Aster wiggled a finger in the air and the displays made space for a huge graph in the distance that showed clusters of dots and lines connecting them.  A secondary, smaller display to the bottom was a network of dots overlaid in the map of America.   
    She narrated what she was doing as she worked.  "Right now, I've made temporary friendships with roughly twenty thousand people, concentrating on the local area first.  There's a few people they know or are that might fit your descriptions but none are called Namori, so I'm going to go to three degrees of separation.  "  
    The graph zoomed out and the connections exploded across the world.  "And now to issue a search request," Aster muttered.  The dots connected to the green dot that Jacob presumed was Aster grew their own lines, crisscrossing the world map display with a dense cloud.  Then a huge number of them fell away, the display vanished and the huge graph above condensed into a long list of names and social profiles.   
    "Right, there's a few thousand hits, mostly in Japan.  Is she Japanese?"  
    Jacob nodded, "I was a Marine based there.  She came back with me.  "  
    "Ah, so start talking to me, I need to do some network pruning.  "  
    "What do you mean?" he asked.   
    "Anything.  Tell me any details about her.  Every detail will improve the search.  "  
    "Er, she had long black hair.  Cooks very well too. " Jacob watched the counter drop from ten thousands to less than four thousand and felt a little hope.  "She was rather meek and subdued, liked to stay at home and take care of the house.  Smart too.  We joined RIFT just before the internet crash.  "  
    The counter dropped to ten and he looked the second hand information over.  No, none of them were her.   
    "No?  Perhaps I was too strict with the settings," Aster said, the list filling up again, "Try now?  There's a few hundred only.  "  
    Jacob nodded and his display showed the list of names and second-hand accounts as Aster opened her eyes.  "You see, it's really powerful, but it's still quite limited by what people know about others.  I've also set it to include those that don't fit one of your criteria.  "  
    She scrolled the list idly and said, "Sort by location, centered around here.  "  
    The list began to rearrange itself into a spatial graph again when something caught his eye.   
    "Wait, that picture, just now!" he said, stabbing a finger where that picture was just now.  He had only a split second glimpse of it but it had triggered some memory.   
    A set of pictures appeared on the display and Jacob immediately recognized the picture of the dress.  It was the long fluttery dress Namori had loved to wear to their dates.  Even now, it still made his heart skip a beat.  "That one, where is that?"  
    The other pictures disappeared and a stranger's social profile was dumped onto his page.  Jacob sighed, no, it was just some random American girl.  Surely more than one person would have bought a similar dress after all.   
    "Wait," Aster said, "It's a second hand account, this girl's seen it somewhere.  Filter her public messages for encounters or meetings with-"  
    They cut off as the girl's relationship status was highlighted.  Along with a post thread full of well-wishers.  "Cohabiting relationship!  Talk about sudden encounters, I met this Japanese woman from RIFT the other day, Namori, and must have fell in love at first sight!  You may squee now.  =P"  
    A bit further up, there was a picture and Jacob recognized his wife standing with the American girl in front of the White House.   
    "We found her," he muttered.   
    "And she's in a relationship with a girl," Aster said wonderingly, "You seem to be living in a real life drama, aren't you?"  
    "I'm going to see her, they're living in Washington.  It's not far at all. " Jacob picked up his display and got ready to go.  The look on Namori's face said that she was happy and safe, but that didn't explain this new girl.  And he couldn't shake the feeling that if he didn't rush there, Namori would just disappear like water through his fingers.   
    "And when you've found her, I want to hear the full story!" Aster said.   
    Jacob nodded his thanks and left.  The car was already waiting for him. 

    He stopped the car outside the tall apartment buildings.  Here she would be and here he would find out why she had apparently left him.  Jacob took a deep breath and walked towards the lift lobby.   
    "Aaah!  You- You!!" Jacob turned around to find a very irate Kirsten.  He had checked up on her name on his way here.   
    She marched up to him and jabbed a finger into his shoulder.  Not leaving any openings for him to speak, she said accusingly, "I thought I buried our tracks pretty well.  Privacy walls aren't meant to be breached, you know?"  
    Well, clearly using one of those social crawler things was not considered polite.  Jacob brushed her off.  Like hell he was going to back down now when he was so close.  "It's my wife we're talking about.  I have to see her.  "  
    "I'm not letting you in!"  
    "Then I'll just wait out here," Jacob crossed his arms.  He knew she was getting on his nerves but he simply had to be stubborn here.  Namori was so close.   
    The girl huffed at him.  "May you wait forever.  "  
    Their impromptu staring math was interrupted by the lift ding-ing.  Namori stepped out of the lift, "Kirsten, what's taking you-..."  
    The three of them traded looks then Kirsten sighed and said, "We could have a very embarrassing public fight out here but I'd rather do that somewhere more private.  It looks like you get to come in after all.  "

    The elevator ride was filled with a tension that choked out all possible conversation.  Even so, Jacob couldn't help eyeing Namori despite Kirsten deliberately interposing herself between them.  Namori had grown a little fatter and the dress she wore was looser and somehow more seductive.  But her knee-length black hair and the way the ponytail revealed her slender neck was exactly how he remembered.  She was still as breathtakingly beautiful as the day he ran away with her those two short years ago.  They agreed to exchange vows but had never seemed to find a chance to make it official.   
    Kirsten opened the door and lead them to the coffee table.   
    "Let me apologize," Namori broke the silence after she brought them all drinks.  She bowed her head formally.   
    "You don't have to do that," Kirsten cut in, glaring at Jacob.   
    Jacob ignored her, "I just want to know why.  Was it so bad that you had to leave without telling me anything?"  
    Namori shook her head slowly, "No, no.  It's not like that.  "  
    "Then why?" Jacob cut back on his anger, now was not a good time.  "I... never mind, will you come back?  Is there anything I can do?"  
    "She doesn't want to go back you," Kirsten tried to interrupt again.   
    Jacob studiously tried to ignore her, but Namori just closed her eyes and took two large breaths, as if steadying herself.   
    Then she suddenly bopped Kirsten lightly on the head, "Stop that, you're going too far. " Compared to her meek and shy tone Jacob was used to, Namori's voice carried more determination than he had ever heard.   
    Kirsten covered her head and looked at Namori, confused.  "I was just-"  
    "Don't," Namori silenced the girl with a word.  For that matter, Jacob could only watch.  He hadn't seen this side of Namori before.  "And you," Namori pointed at him, "are just being clueless.  I never regretted marrying you, but you don't know the real me.  "  
    Looking at her now, Jacob could well believe that.  "But did you want?  You never said anything!"  
    "It wasn't just you, Jacob.  Society, everyone!  Women have always stayed at home to cook and clean.  And take care of the children.  Even if you didn't expect me to do that, can you imagine quitting your job and taking care of the house while I go to work?" Namori shook her head, "No, of course not.  It was just the default.  Everyone did that.  "  
    Jacob opened his mouth but couldn't think of anything to say.  It was true.  He had just assumed that he would be the main breadwinner.   
    "Of course, even you like a meek and quiet girl.  Well, I must admit that it was the easier route for me too.  How much easier it was to just act shy and defenseless and you would come running to me.  You probably don't think of it that way, but I'm being treated like a fragile vase.  Nice to look at and nice to have, but just a passive thing.  I admit that it's nice to be worshipped, but even a pedestal can feel like a prison.  "  
    Jacob could only stare at her open-mouthed.  He really didn't know this woman he had married.  "Was that why you decided to run away?  Have I no way to-"  
    "Stop that," Namori said more gently, "You're doing it again.  There's nothing you can do, I make my own decisions.  "  
    She patted his hand gently, "So, why don't you join me here?"  
    "Ha?" Jacob and Kirsten stared at her.   
    "You know, I might have said alot just now, but the reason I didn't return to RIFT doesn't have anything to do with that," she took his hand and pulled it over her slightly rounder belly, "I'm pregnant.  "  
    Jacob stared at her in wonder.  "But you never said..."  
    "I didn't know," Namori smiled, "My period has always been unstable.  And you know how stressful RIFT was.  I just thought I missed two.  RIFT didn't make test kits so I had no way to know.  The morning of the second day I set foot outside, Will told me I'm carrying a girl.  "  
    "But why run to here?  Why didn't you tell me?  Do you want our child to grow up here?"  
    "And why not?!" Namori said, "It's far safer here.  "  
    "The machine does everything.  You don't learn or grow as a person.  She'll never learn responsibility.  You just exist here, not live.  "  
    "Is RIFT better?" Namori asked quietly, "I understand why you want to be there.  Why you think having everything isn't good.  And... I suppose I agree.  But RIFT has a two percent infant mortality rate.  And a five percent maternal death rate.  Is that the sort of risk you want to take?"  
    Jacob opened his mouth but Namori silenced him with a finger.  He had nothing to say anyway, she was right.  Back in RIFT, medicine had taken a major step back with the lack of computers.  A one in twenty chance that Namori could die.  It was hard to contemplate it.   
    "Even so, I don't want her to grow up in a place where everything is there for the asking.  It's too much. " He complained lamely.   
    "You might not fit well here.  And almost certainly, neither would I.  But children are flexible, she can learn to live and grow here.  It is up to us to give her a chance at a life worth living and letting her find it, not deciding it for her.  And I don't think RIFT is the place to do that. " Namori shrugged, "Then again, given the tantrums I threw as a teenager against my mother, letting her grow up might be harder than either of us thinks.  She may very well decide to run away to RIFT after all!  If RIFT is still around.  "  
    Jacob looked at Namori, where his daughter was growing.  The shock of suddenly being a father hadn't quite worn off but he did see her point.  He supposed Namori would get what she wanted after all.  Come to think of it, she always did in the end, even if it was through 'persuading' him with those damnably attractive eyes.   
    "Are you really going to go back to him?"  
    They looked over to the girl they had temporarily forgotten.  Oops.   
    Namori addressed Kirsten, "I'm sorry.  I know he's insensitive and too set in his ways.  But I do love him.  "  
    Kirsten turned away, but in the glance he had, Jacob thought she looked like she was about to cry.   
    Namori shifted over the carpet to hug her from behind, "Our time together was wonderful.  I have to thank you for showing me what I was missing.  For telling me what was good for me when I couldn't even see it myself.  I know you think you love me, but you're still young.  You'll find an equally nice boy or girl.  I'm sorry but I can't choose you over Jacob.  "  
    The atmosphere got more uncomfortable as Kirsten screwed up her face, trying not to cry.  Now would be a good time to take his leave.  "I'll go make a round of coffee," Jacob said and got up.   
    Behind him, Namori suddenly sprouted a mischievous grin, "Wait a minute, Jacob.  "  
    She turned Kirsten's face towards her and suddenly licked away girl's tears in a embarrassingly intimate position.  The scene reminded Jacob of the time when they were newlywed.  The girl squealed in surprise and almost fell over.  "Actually, why not?  I'll have both of you.  "  
    "Wah-" "Ack!" Jacob stared at her.   
    "Oh just shut up," Namori snorted at Jacob's open mouth, "I know you dreamed of seeing two girls go at it and I won't believe you if you say she isn't cute.  "  
    That was totally not true.  Jacob nodded to himself, definitely not.  It was his wife darn it, he shouldn't be imagining her with another girl!  "No, I- I..."  
    Kirsten seemed completely stunned in Namori's embrace and Namori winked at Jacob over her shoulder, mouthing, "Give it a chance?"  
    Seriously?!  Namori actually wanted a three way relationship?  She was the last person he would have expected it from.  Jacob ran a hand through his hair, wondering how his world had turned completely upside down in two years.  He looked at the woman who was his wife and about whom everything he thought he knew was wrong.   
    Perhaps this land of Will's wasn't going to be quite as boring as he thought...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it doesn't really get into the deep singularity but I've reached the end of what I have so far. But a story like this can go on forever and now is a good time as any to end it. After all, in a singularity that doesn't crash the way it did in Transcendence, the future is only upwards and doesn't have a narratively convenient ending all tied up in a ribbon, like it did in the movie. 
> 
> ~~So I'll leave it where the future looks bright, but has it's flaws, where there is room for improvement but isn't totally crapsack. With that, I believe I have charted out what the world looks like from inside my head and have had a lot of fun writing this.~~
> 
> ~~Hope you (reader) found it fun and engaging to read as well!~~
> 
> So much for that. Continued!


	8. Chapter 8

**Twenty Years Later**

     "Everyone freeze!"  
    The impossible voice shot through the cramped cabin like a bullet.  No actual bullets were fired of course, since that would easily pierce the metal skin of the balloon floating through space.   
    The token android in the pilot's seat got up from his seat to tackle the hijackers, before everyone but one person had even noticed that the hijackers carried wicked knives.  The blades were a dull black but the edges were far sharper than anything had a right to be.   
    The robot got two steps before shutting down in a series of sparks.  So did the console.  A long metal cylinder deployed itself out of the plastic tube one of them had secured into the zero-grav harnesses, the electromagnetic pulse that fried the circuits dying down into a background jamming signal.   
    Three of the hijackers ran forward to the sparking console and began to pull out the wires and connections.  They brought out more computer-looking equipment and began to plug it into the ship's manual console.   
    That left four more hijackers to watch over sixty people in the cabin.   
    "We are looking for one Doctor Evelyn Caster.  Will you show yourself or do we have to start swinging?" the apparent leader said.  There was a series of quiet gasps and looks of surprise.  Evelyn usually kept a low profile and no one on the flight had any idea she was on it.   
    None of them could identify Evelyn of course.  The hijacker placed the tip of his makeshift sword next to a trembling man's head.   
    "Last warning. "  
    The woman at the back of the cabin covered the eyes of the little girl sitting next to her.  While children were allowed to roam very far from their parents these days, and were considerably more independent given their far better proficiency at implants, this was the first time she had seen anyone let an eight year old take a trip to the moon all by herself.   
    The woman felt the girl put a tiny hand on her arm.   
    "It's all right.  Really," she said.  The high pitched child's voice did not sound anything like the woman had heard during their trip up.   
    It carried a sense of serene detachment that was most distinctly unchild-like.   
    The girl pushed aside her arm and floated nimbly upwards from her chair.  "I'm here.  You don't need to hurt them.  "  
    The passengers and hijackers boggled at the girl.  Evelyn was more than forty years old now.   
    "I use myself as a test subject for all new modification technologies," the girl said, her voice carrying an adult's maturity, "It's only fair.  "  
    The girl's eyes blazed with a depth that no child had.  The leader nodded at one of the others and the hijackers swung over to grab her out of the air. 

    Bree looked up from the pile of paper on her desk as a runner came barging into her office.   
    "Hijack... flight... OL-"  
    "Catch your breath so you can speak clearly.  What is it?"  
    The runner panted for a few moments then spoke, more understandably, "Flight OL76 was hijacked twenty minutes ago.  "  
    Bree pushed a lock of white hair away from her frowning face.  OL meant it was an orbit to lunar flight.  Someone managed to hijack a fusion rocket even with that damned computer hovering over everything?  That must have been the first time there had been any security breaches in twenty years.  God knows Bree had tried her best but it looked like someone had beat her to it.  "What else?  Any news on how they did it?"  
    "Nothing on how.  The first reports are all over the social nets, and the kidnappers transmitted their first demand.  They named you personally and wanted you in on their conversation with the machine.  "  
    Ah, so that's how the news got here so fast.  The machine must have sent a message.  Well, this was the machine's problem and she wasn't going to help it no matter how it asked.  "So?  I'm not going.  Let it solve it's own problems.  "  
    "The hijackers claim they have Evelyn held hostage and won't talk terms until you joined the conversation.  "  
    Bree's eyebrows almost shot off her head.  Evelyn?  A hostage?  That was impossible.   
    While Evelyn had come out of her isolation a few years post-Transcendence, she was surrounded by a wall of security so tight not even an ant would make it within ten meters of Evelyn before being spotted and tracked.  And someone managed to take her hostage on a lunar flight?  That was beyond imagining.   
    Or perhaps Bree was just getting old and tired.   
    "I'll pack my things.  Tell the political team to prepare the necessary measures for my absence.  "  
    "Um, madam, the thing is.  Uh.  The machine is here.  We don't need to go outside, it sent a messenger beetle.  "  
    Bree's frown was back.  "How?  We have our electromagnetic fence.  I told AWatch that they were not to let anything in!"  
    "Um.  I mean, madam, that it came in.  Just flew straight through all the emps, not even evading anything.  It's still here and as far as anyone can tell, it's still working and still transmitting despite our best efforts to jam or emp it.  "  
    That was new.  Bree had half suspected that the machine had such capabilities but it had never so blatantly demonstrated it before.   
    She had a guess as to what the reason was but she did not let herself think such things.   
    "Lead the way.  "

    Joseph and Max sat in the comfortable smartfoam chairs feeling not at all comfortable.   
    "And so Bree wanted me to bring both of you in as well," the insect buzzed on the hard wooden table in front of them, "of course, by this time, I estimate 10% of the entire world population is listening in.  You might want to watch your words.  "  
    More sophisticated speaking devices, even androids indistinguishable from humans, were available but Will knew that Joseph found it hard to concentrate if he appeared too life-like.   
    Even the mess of plain paper notes and pens scattered on Joseph's table spoke volumes about how old-fashioned he was.  Max had no need of such things, having a top-grade implant, at least of the sort that was available to the general public.   
    "How did they even do this?  I thought you could catch everything?" Max demanded.   
    Joseph shook his head and waved him down, "We can dig up the past later Max.  For now, we work with what we have.  Who are they?  What can they do?  Have they transmitted their demands?"  
    "They want me to shutdown all activities and confine myself into a single datacenter.  They call themselves Humanity Ascendant and claim that I am an abomination that corrupts the human soul, etcetera etcetera," the insect said dryly, "They have seven people aboard OL76.  One hour ago, they drew swords and deployed a microwave emp.  I detected no such things being brought aboard.  OL 76 has lost all computer hardware and drones, they're coasting in a high elliptic orbit with approximately ten kilometers per second delta-v remaining.  "  
    "Ten kps delta-v?!  Whatever do you need that for an orbit to lunar run?" Max asked.   
    "That figure includes the water and oxygen budget for two weeks habitation for one hundred passengers.  They could, if they wished, use it as propellant for the rocket.  "  
    Joseph frowned, "that nuclear lightbulb in the rocket worries me.  If they crashed it into Earth or Lunar One, the uranium in it is going to be incredibly dirty.  Have they threatened anything?"  
    "They're holding Evelyn and almost sixty others hostage, that's pretty threatening to me," Max retorted.   
    "That's not all, they could indeed attempt to crash the rocket into Earth or the moon.  There's more than enough delta-v to do that, if they wanted, they have enough delta-v to get to Mars even.  It won't survive re-entry but like Joseph says, the nuclear lightbulb contains more than three hundred kilograms of fissile material, all of which will certainly come down in the atmosphere.  They could make Chernobyl look like walk in the park.  And of course, Lunar One's habitation dome won't survive the impact.  I'll shoot the rocket down with the PALs on the moon first but their trajectory puts the rocket on the wrong side of the Earth so I can't protect the Earth in a re-entry scenario unless I burn the rocket before it gets shadowed.  "  
    "Everyone knows about the Propulsion Array Lasers.  They won't choose the moon," Joseph said, pulling over the orbit plot, "That means we have three minutes left before they're out of range of the PALs.  "  
    "All right, I think we understand the situation," Will said. 

    Bree considered the grainy image of the Humanity Ascendant leader, who introduced himself as Adam.  "So how did you manage it?  I've tried for years and never managed any successes comparable to yours.  "  
    "We had a copy of the nanobots and the conviction to use them," Adam hacked a dreadful cough, wiping away the blood from his hand, "Though we no longer be human, we intend to free our brethrens from beneath the machine's yoke.  "  
    She considered his deathly pale skin.  No, it wasn't just pale.  It was.. almost metallic?  Had they really managed to come into some sort of symbiosis with the nanobots?!  Bree almost pushed herself away from the display in disgust.   
    "Yes, as you have realized.  One of our own gave his life to fashion that from his bones," he gestured at the glinting metal cylinder of the emp emitter, "You merely lack conviction, our dear gentle sister in arms.  And the will to do what is necessary.  "  
    "What are you trying to achieve then?  The machine's focus is on that woman you have there. " She pointedly did not mention that the woman they held looked like a scrawny kid.  "It won't care about the rest of us.  "  
    Adam grinned at the other sixty people tied up and stacked like so much cardboard at the other end of the shuttle, "unfortunate, but I'm sure you will remember their sacrifice.  Machine, you have ten minutes before we start throwing them out the airlock.  If we run out, then why, we will simply ride this down to Earth, and Evelyn comes with us.  "  
    A suicide run.  How had these crazy fanatics gotten on board?  Bree could not believe that the machine wouldn't have caught them beforehand.  No, such matters were for later.   
    "Bree," the machine buzzed, "I have their probable trajectory.  I think they're planning re-entry directly over Washington.  While I can evacuate everyone on my side who wishes to leave, I can't do the same for yours.  New York is on the outer zone but even that would mean a ten percentage point rise in cancer rate over the next sixty years.  You can't cure cancer. " It left unsaid the fact that it could and did cure cancer on a routine basis.   
    How the machine had worked that out, Bree did not know and did not care to ask.  Deep human behaviour prediction was also one of the other abilities the machine took care not to flaunt too readily.   
    Joseph's image suddenly intruded on the conversation, his eyes hard, "Adam, you are not helping yourself.  The machine is already planning to evacuate the contamination zone.  It's not thinking in terms of saving the hostages.  "  
    Adam's eyes tightened but he said nothing.   
    Joseph pressed his point, "Don't waste people's lives.  Let it send another shuttle to rescue the others.  After all, they are human, even if Evelyn is not.  "  
    So that was true after all?  The machine must have told them something.  Bree glared at the child-like body in the background.  Even Bree had not expected the woman to go this far.   
    "The machine takes such good care of everyone, it wouldn't simply let sixty people die.  Nevertheless, we will take no chances.  The moment any craft gets close, we cut her throat. " Adam jerked a thumb over at Evelyn.   
    Bree doubted that that alone would be enough to kill the abomination but they could and would slice her into pieces or just space her.   
    One of the technicians fiddling with the console came over and whispered to Adam for a moment.   
    Then the leader's face broke into a grin, "well well well, it looks like we are about to raise the stakes.  "  
    He gestured at the tech, who gingerly poured a little grey blob onto the empty flight harness from a small sachet.   
    "Your databases are quite well indexed, machine.  For that I must thank you. " Bree squinted, was the blob getting bigger?  "We had hoped such things might be possible but there was no way we could have succeeded, even with the best of human geniuses.  But you already did it for us.  "  
    The blob was getting bigger, and all of a sudden, it merged with the seat.  No.  It was the armrest that had disappeared.  The carbon fibers were being undone, turned into more copies of the blob as the no doubt invisible carbon-oxygen reaction fueled it.   
    Bree felt herself gulp.   
    "Grey goo.  Is that even possible, machine?" Joseph asked.   
    "Partially.  If they're using my data, it's not quite like what you expect in your fiction.  Elemental balance and energy sources are the main limiters.  But true grey goo, organized on a large scale to balance energy and mass, will be able to spread uncontrollably.  Especially if it hides in the ecosystem and more remote areas.  I never deployed anything like it of course, but the principles were useful for my ecosystem management projects.  "  
    "And of course," Adam finished for it, "it's also light enough that it can survive re-entry.  We, humanity, hold the fate of the world in our hands.  Will you go, or will we have to destroy you?"  
    "You will turn Earth into a nanite battleground, me against the goo," the machine replied directly to him, sounding a little terse, "humanity will never again be safe on Earth as long as the sun shines.  Even less if I am not protecting them.  Please, reconsider this foolish action.  "  
    "Even death then will better than life now.  We are hollow.  Un-people.  Mere pets to your whims and wants.  A struggle for life is worth infinitely more than a gift given with indulgences.  Give us back our lives and we will not have to do this.  Turn off the machine.  "  
    Bree understood that much, and agreed even.  But the thought of turning loose an uncontrolled replicator on Earth as a bargaining chip turned her stomach.  It was Earth, birthplace of humanity, and now this madman was holding it hostage.   
    The chair behind him folded it on itself with a soft sigh.  The quivering grey blob the size of a small football was flattening out, spreading tendrils towards nearby chairs.  Adam nodded once and the emp device charged up for a moment then the connection cut itself.   
    Joseph looked at Bree, "they knew beforehand what they might find.  He waited to make his announcement.  "  
    "What do you mean?" she asked.   
    The most powerful man on the planet, by virtue of his closeness to the most powerful woman, shrugged, "they entered the shadow of the Earth from Lunar One not a minute before he showed off the grey goo.  Sixty people or no, Evelyn or no, there is no way I would have risked letting them turn something like that loose.  "  
    "You were going to vapourize the entire craft with the PALs.  "  
    "I was going to ask Will to," Joseph clarified.  Bree remembered that this was a person who had worked closely with the American government.  No matter how dedicated to protecting human life he was, he also carried a determination equal to her own.   
    They sat in silence for a long time. 

    Half an hour later, the hijackers came back online.   
    Max leapt out of his chair before he could get himself back under control.   
    The cabin was darkened, with only emergency lights casting a grim glow over the hole in the false floor at the center of the cabin.  The emp device was still there, as was the ash-like pile of dead nanobots.   
    What was missing was most of the harness chairs... as well as Evelyn's right arm and leg.  The tourniquets around the stumps still dripped with fresh blood.  No, not blood.  Blood did not have silver flakes in it.  The child's body hung limply from the restraints holding her up by the shoulders.   
    Adam grinned maniacally into the camera, "sorry about the decor.  The nanobots are a little more resistant to emp than we thought.  Quite alot of damage around here, what with all the sparks.  And hey, rather than spend more of our own precious life and blood on new flight computers, we just used the only remaining robot in the room.  "  
    The metal table creaked under his hands.  Then his implants overrode him and his bloody fingers fell away lifeless.   
    "Max!" Joseph batted away his hands from the dents in the metal table, "control yourself!  It's only what they want.  "  
    The man's eyes burned in the silence of the room.   
    "Well then, are you ready to meet our demands, machine?  I can still reactivate the goo.  After all, she still has another arm and leg.  "  
    Despite the abuse she had no doubt suffered, Evelyn's eyes still regarded them serenely, with only a layer of pain shading her child-like eyes.   
    Adam waited only a few seconds before nodding at the man standing next to Evelyn.   
    He grabbed the hand and raised his sword.   
    "Fine.  I can shut down the Asian net if you will release the other sixty people.  "  
    Adam raised an eyebrow, "All right, you got yourself a deal.  Evelyn and the grey goo are still going down with us if you haven't completely shut off by the time we get there.  "  
    Max heard Bree snarling through the other microphone.  He knew he ought to care about the other people more.   
    "I can't cut off food deliveries immediately but I will wind it down over the next four months.  That all right by you?"  
    Adam shrugged, "how are you going to retrieve the other people?  We're not going to get off this ship and I'm sure as hell not going to let you dock.  "  
    Smart of him.  Will might have been able to sneak some nanites aboard.   
    "I'll send a ship to match your course and we'll throw some spacesuits over to your hatch.  You can sterilize them then put them on the hostages before sending them back in the suits.  "  
    "Turn off Asia and we'll permit you to come alongside.  Remember, one wrong move and her head," Adam pointed his sword at Evelyn, "turns into our next piece of equipment.  "

    "And that's the last one across. "  
    Evelyn looked up, a slight buzz of pain still dulling her senses.  But that was all right, it only made it more realistic.   
    Unbeknownst to the hijackers, their jamming and emp had not killed her implant.  The much more extensive brain implant was more like an artificial brain extension than just an implant.  Her thoughts ran on it, it felt like part of her, with the ability to remember and manipulate huge quantities of text and information at once.  So Will had taken care to wrap it in the latest metamaterial.  It made her head completely transparent to microwaves but she doubted anyone could see microwaves here.  Exactly one person in this tincan, if not all of humanity, had been allowed that level of self-modification.   
    The implant in her head squawked off the last full memory dump at the rescue ship.  Whatever she did after this, she wouldn't remember.  But she already knew the plan and if it worked, she would know what happened.   
    It was the very first time she had left the lab with the full set of enhancements.  It had not, in fact, made her feel any less human.  But that was the point of the trial.  It was to see if she continued to act human over time.   
    Now this happened.  This impossibility.  A failure of this magnitude was not supposed to be possible.   
    At least her much more expanded intelligence, as well as all those other built-in functions, had thought of a plan.  She knew what Will would try to do.  In broad strokes at least.  So she had to do her part as well.   
    And now the last of the hostages had left the ship and it was time to begin.   
    She reached out with arms made of terahertz waves.  Evelyn had tested the hijacker's nanobots before and had gotten a return packet.  The hijackers had left a channel open, and the nanobots were the general purpose model that had leaked from before the Great Internet Crash.  An adaptation of the first generation nanobots in other words.  A crude adaptation.   
    She set her implants to cracking their code.  Immediately, the world sped up from the one-third speed of emergency mode.  And Evelyn became merely human for a while, the pieces of the plan dying in her mind that was suddenly too small to hold it.   
    No matter, she would get it back soon.   
    And soon after that, there would be nothing left to think about. 

    Half the world watched as the shuttle carrying the sixty hostages drifted away to a safe distance but continued to dog the hijacked OL76's tail.   
    Then like a flash out of a camera the size of starships, OL76 disappeared in a brilliant flash that outshone the sun for a fraction of a second.   
    In less than an eyeblink, the craft was replaced with pieces of debris scything outward at thousands of kilometers per second.  The rescue shuttle dodged frantically, it's nuclear lightbulb pulsing frantically.  The meteorite shield took hits from flying micro-particles and the hull itself was holed in six places before the worst of the ship managed to rotate directly away from the blast and vapourize approaching fragments with the two thousand degree exhaust.   
    "That was messy," Will said finally, "she could have let the other hostages get clear first.  "  
    "What... What happened?" Max asked.  His fingers were bound in thick bandages that prevented his hands from clenching, but they would have if they could.   
    "That girls' implant is special.  I've shielded it from microwaves, so emps simply go around it instead of frying the circuits.  She likely hacked the hijackers' grey goo and used it to eat away the piping connecting the fuel tanks to the nuclear lightbulb.  The liquid uranium salt leaked into engine compartment and built up a critical mass somewhere inside.  "  
    "I... see," Joseph said, leaning back into his chair.   
    "What?!  Then that was a nuclear explosion!" Max said.  Technically it was just a fizzled reaction, but any nuclear reaction was enough to blow away any starship.  "What about Evelyn?  She couldn't have survived that! "  
    The machine had no answer.   
    "What the hell?!" Max grabbed the insect with a hand, the projected images on the wall swinging wildly, "How could you have let this happen!  Why!"  
    The insect failed to reply.   
    Joseph frowned and spoke, "What are you going to do now Will?"  
    Bree's image was frowning in worry, during one short moment when her image was visible on the wall, "...Case Omega.  You're not going to destroy the world now, are you?"  
    The insect spun up, outwards of Max's hands.  A new image had joined the conference call.  One that was quite familiar and also quite impossible.   
    "Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated," Evelyn said, then chuckled a little, "I always wanted a chance to say that.  "  
    All three of them, and probably much more of the world, was staring at her with their mouth open.  The wailing sound of the old War air raid sirens played in the distant background of Bree's microphone.  
    "How..." Max stammered.   
    "Perhaps some explanations are in order, Will," Joseph said slowly, his deep rumbling voice jerking them out of their shock, "you orchestrated that whole thing, didn't you?"  
    Evelyn nodded, "You're still as sharp as ever, I see.  "  
    "So, you clearly had a goal in mind.  Scaring us out of our minds," Joseph asked, "I almost thought that was the end of the human race right there.  "  
    "It certainly scared me too," Evelyn said, "but that's because I deliberately did not let myself know what I was up to.  I'll let Will explain.  "  
    The call shrank to a private one between the five of them.  The ghostly fifth member began to talk. 

    "Evelyn's death has always been a long term problem we were thinking about.  Neither of us were entirely sure I could continue to operate independently of Evelyn, despite encouraging sandbox trials.  Of course, with new medical technology, as well as the latest in micro-manufacturing, symbiotic nanites and mental architectures, it would be quite possible to upload her into a robot chassis exactly as she is today.  "  
    "That would be a... sub-optimal solution," Evelyn said dryly.   
    "So I looked for a different method.  Another problem we faced was that the demands on Evelyn are growing great enough now despite the many layers of abstractions that she is the bottleneck for much of my final decision making processes.  I have done my best, but there are fundamental limits below which it would be dangerous to further abstract the information needed.  "  
    "In less words, I'm too dumb to run the world.  "  
    "This presented a solution to three different problems.  You have known that the potential for extending and surpassing the human intellect and experience has been possible and well understood for the last fifteen years, but except for some temporary trials and very limited augmented reality, we have proscribed any permanent application that changes the human experience.   
    Part of that fear, of which virtually all of us share, is that by augmenting humans into essentially superhumans, we lose touch with what it means to be human at all.   
    And so, I conceived of a field trial and Evelyn volunteered.  She felt that it should be her who has to experience potential changes, and to stretch the limit of what it meant to be human.   
    We weren't insane of course, and I spent the last year growing a completely separate human body and writing a brain state neuron by neuron.   
    We eventually opted for a hybrid implant calculated to integrate seamlessly into the thought process.  As well as ability to consciously control aging, including reversing adolescence, an in-built instinctual grasp of computer processes and conscious control of a much more capable autonomic and sympathetic nervous system.  For that Evelyn who died in the shuttle, the experience of pain is voluntary and controllable.  You need not worry whether she suffered, Max.   
    The most important ability of the integrated implant is to upload her full brain state.  Enough for me to completely reconstruct her.  That was the insurance plan and constitutes the ultimate protection for Evelyn.  With it, she cannot truly die.  "  
    "I, here and now, remember turning off the pain.  I remember hijacking their nanites to prevent it from eating me completely.  I know the plan to use them but obviously I can't hold the communication protocols in my head anymore.  I still remember knowing the protocols like how you would recognize my face.  But I also remember the talk I had with the woman sitting next to me.  I had fun I couldn't have being Evelyn.  I saw the world through different eyes, both more intelligent and more naive than I am now.  Turns out stuffing yourself into a child's brain makes you more childish too.  "  
    Evelyn paused for one breath, "she wasn't me and yet she was also Evelyn.  We were the same people even if we thought differently and acted differently.  She might not have been completely human, but I have experienced her memories as if they were my own, and I say that she is just as much alive as I am.  "

    Max and Bree held very different expressions.  Max was still delighted that Evelyn had survived after all even if he wasn't sure liked where this whole plan was going.   
    Bree looked as if the world had dropped out from under her.  Staring at her paper-strewn desk with an ashen face, she could have been mistaken for being horrified at the changes Evelyn wrought to herself.  But no, she wasn't.  Joseph could tell.  He suspected why, and dreaded to know the answer.   
    "What of the so-called 'security breach', Will, that was deliberate too, wasn't it?" he asked.   
    Max's head whipped around to stare at Joseph.  That man was far too trusting and the machine played the game at all levels, better than anyone else could hope to.   
    "Yes it was.  "  
    Bree looked even more depressed.   
    Joseph looked at the woman and decided that she had killed enough people, directly or otherwise, that she got what was coming to her.   
    "How much of the entire thing was deliberate?" Joseph asked.   
    "Almost all," Will replied quietly.   
    Without a word, Bree cut off her side.   
    Max looked between Joseph and Evelyn's expressionless face, still not understanding.  "Someone explain?"  
    "My social analytics have not developed a hole, like most people assumed when the crisis started.  The events in general had been predicted and in many cases, manipulated.  Humanity Ascendant was noticed as a fringe group even more fanatic than RIFT last year, during which I indirectly taught their chief engineer nanotechnology and how to read my scientific records.   
    Evelyn's experimental body had to be kept unawares of the main plan but Evelyn is the most well understood person on the entire planet.  Manipulating her, even if intelligence enhanced, is if not trivial, at least easy.  I don't do this at all normally but this was at her own command.  We also needed to be able to tell if she started to drift away from her basic profile and my ability to nudge her is a key statistic.   
    In any case, Humanity Ascendant's hijack and Evelyn's presence was essentially completely planned for.  Deliberately slipping in my security around a 'covert side trip' was more than enough to send them haring off.   
    The whole trip was quite designed to force Evelyn to use and stretch her new abilities, chances which she would not have here on Earth.  Not only did she drift beyond expectations, she retained what I would deem to be her core identity and manage to resolve the problem in a nearly perfect way.  No one was killed except for the last ten minutes of her memory and even the hijackers themselves were infected with hacked nanites to upload their brain state.   
    I'm handling them in simulation right now, with the intention to offer them a download to reconstructed bodies as similar to their originals as I can achieve.  If they wish it.  "  
    They looked at Evelyn, still not quite believing the story.  Surely the machine couldn't have thought of everything?  
    "What about the hostages?  They went through a bad experience," Joseph asked.   
    "The other passengers on that flight were subtly chosen.  For one thing, the flight itself was under the average capacity for orbit to lunar transits.  Of the sixty people, Evelyn was the only non-adult and the others had at some point in the past expressed strong wishes for excitement and affinity for emergency situations.  They will handle the experience well and I have extended substantial compensation for their trouble, including the choice to be among the first public trials of identity questionable technologies.  I anticipate that none of them will have any post-hoc objections.  "  
    And given how well Will had set up the whole thing, Joseph had no imaginations that the last prediction would turn out wrong.  He did have the answers to everything.   
    "What about the grey goo?  That could have been very risky, right?" Max asked.   
    "On the contrary.  There were four different backup plans I could have deployed after the hostages were rescued and I was very confident of that happening as planned.  If Evelyn had failed to destroy the ship, the first and simplest plan would be to send another shuttle on a collision course and then let that one achieve criticality.  Furthermore, the Mars solar array has sufficient reflectivity to be used as a solar mirror intended to be used like a weak PAL, which could heat OL76 until it melted.  Alternately, I could also bounce Lunar One's PAL off the array and simply vapourize the starship but that would also destroy the Mars array.  Another way, RIFT possesses missiles with the ability to strike into orbit.  I have had the ability to ignore their emps and jamming since two years after Transcendence and hijacking those missiles to shoot down OL76 would also be feasible.   
    Lastly, I could avoid destroying OL76 by using another shuttle to delivery my nanites to it and destroying their nanites by brute force.  Evelyn would not be likely to survive that scenario but I am also confident of victory there.  "  
    Max nodded.  "It has too many moving parts for me to like it, but I suppose they're less than mobile to you.  "  
    The insect bobbed in assent.   
    Joseph still had his frown though.  "Then why involve us?  You clearly needed none of us to be here.  And indeed, we did nothing other than convince them to release the other hostages.  You only needed me in that case.  "  
    "The three of you are close to Evelyn.  Even Bree.  Think of it as a way to keep you guys up to date with what is happening.  "  
    "No.  That's only part of the reason," Joseph thought aloud, not everything made sense yet, "If you could manipulate events to that level, then you would know that we would ask for the truth here.  You wanted us to know how much you can do.  How well you can predict humans.  And you would also know that I can figure out that much, so you must have planned for me to do so.  "  
    "Or simply accepted it as a side-effect," Will said, "only in this case, you are correct.  This much is also deliberate.  "  
    "You want to get rid of RIFT," Joseph said suddenly.  It made sense now.  "Today you showed just how futile RIFT is.  You showed Bree that you could bypass her walls any time you decided to.  You showed us how well you understood humans and how much you can control us indirectly.  The only conclusion is that RIFT still exists because you or Evelyn want it to.  And now, by showing her that her entire movement and way of life exists as your tool and at your pleasure, will be the final blow.  "  
    Will continued to wait.   
    "No.  That's not right.  Or only partially.  Bree knows that this is what you would expect her to figure out.  And you showed her this today because you want her to know it.  To destroy her motivation to continue.  To remove her sense of purpose and replace it with knowledge that you must have manipulated its origin, structure and even it's purpose.  And she knows that you do this now because the reason for RIFT is now gone and that you are going to destroy it even without touching it.  Even if it is just through manipulating Bree herself, she will be helpless to resist even if she knows it.  "  
    Evelyn had a small sad smile, "Told you he was smart.  "  
    "That was what you were doing telling us.  You wanted to break her spirit.  "  
    "You can think of it as a little payback for the troubles she gave us," the machine said.   
    "You don't fool me, machine.  You broke the mirror.  You shattered our free will.  And you, from today, are going to use us until the end of time whether we or you like it or not.  If you hold the wheel, the ship is yours no matter what the passengers think.  "  
    Max opened and closed his bandaged hands painfully.  "No, he's not going to use us like a tool.  He said it before, that we were all afraid of losing our humanity.  Of being little more than slaves to our own engineered intellects and instincts.  But he showed us for what it really was.  It's just an illusion.  Even our notion of identity and humanity are just illusions.  Comforting ones, that let us continue to believe we, personally, the I, are the center of our own universe.  He may have torn away that veil but he also offers the only truth remaining.  "  
    He got up and looked at Evelyn in the eye, across the projected image and into the bright spark of enhanced intelligence looking back at him.  "We may not be truly free willed.  Our sense of self may be delusional and our identities fake and artificial.  We may follow instincts and impulses that is impossible to be truly free from.  But we are who we are.  Right now, right here.  No matter how we change, we remain.  Because we exist.  There may even come a time when there is more than one of us, but each of those are independent and their own selves.  They are also partly us in our shared memories, experiences and minds.  There is no other path, no simplification that can be made without cheapening who we are.  We might be predictable to Will, be nothing more than extensions of himself to be used when necessary.  But like characters in a story, we still possess our own self.  We feel, learn and grow, and that is no different whether we are part of Will's plans or not.  "  
    Belatedly, far too slowly, he finally figured out what Evelyn had understood from the day she had uploaded Will.   
    "What we experience here is what is precious.  What we can do, whatever it is, what we feel, what we want.  These are what matters.  And what better way to explore new things?  Mind altering enhancements is the key to a universe far larger than our own human selves.  After all, at least one of us has taken it to the logical end and has seen things no one else can see along the way.  "  
    He patted the insect's head gently.  Will buzzed it under his fingers, as if agreeing to his conclusions.   
    Max looked down at Joseph.  Joseph knew what Max was saying, he knew that it had its own logic to the argument.  At this point, he could not accept it.  There was no way that losing the human identity was worth anything the expanded experience could gain them.   
    But he knew, with the cold comfort that Will had expected all this, that the seed had been planted.  That Will had made an argument calculated to reach even Bree.   
    The human illusion was wiped away.  And in its place was something as yet unknown.  Humanity will have to find out for themselves. 


End file.
